Colonialism and English Education at The University of Hong Kong, 1913-1964
Scarlet Poon
BA, HKU
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong
August, 2003 Abstract of thesis entitled
Colonialism and English Education at The University of Hong Kong, 1913-1964
Submitted by
Scarlet Poon
for the degree of Master of Philosophy at The University of Hong Kong in August, 2003
This thesis examines the history of English education at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) from 1913 to 1964. English literary studies, as a nationalistic academic discourse in England, was an iconic subject in particular for introducing English values and traditions at this colonial b'British" university. A critical study of its disciplinary history at HKU raises questions about the impact of colonialism, imperialism and nationalism on the subject and the University at large. This study employs a mixture of thematic exposition and historical narrative. Thematically, a macroscopic approach was adopted to contextualize the thesis within a broader framework of the history of English literary studies in Britain. University archival materials, staff and student publications and public records were consulted for an overview of the teaching and learning of English in this English-medium university. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the national significance of the discipline in Britain and its expected roles in the Commonwealth, in relation to the objectives of the English Association founded in 1907. In Chapter 2, the distinctive nature of HKU as a British secular colonial institution is highlighted through a brief set of comparative studies with other western colleges and universities in China. Chapter 3 reconstructs aspects of the first fifty years of the English Department, particularly the period (1920-1951) when it was headed by R. K. M. Simpson. Simpson stressed the interdisciplinarity of English literary studies, and emphasized that English was a gateway to western civilization and culture or "general knowledge". This undercut the general belief that English literary studies merely expounded "Britishness" or "Englishness", and widened its appeal to students in Hong Kong by presenting it as an aid to the acquisition of western knowledge. Chapter 4 is concerned with the practicality and ideology of English Studies as a branch of Arts education. While humanities subjects were prized in traditional scholarship, English literary studies were looked down upon as an impractical and feminized discipline (or in Professor Edrnund Blunden's view, a subject of "British sensibility") with an ambiguous status at the University. The transplantation of English Studies into a colonial context, against the background of their complex evolution from a nationalistic discourse to a would-be scientific enterprise with the advent of literary criticism, reveals the tensions inherent in the teaching of this subject at university level. An understanding of the evolution of English Studies can also serve to illuminate debates about the ideological status of the discipline in postcolonial Hong Kong. Contents
Declaration ...... i Acknowledgements ...... ii Table of Contents ...... iii List of Appendices ...... iv-v Abbreviations ...... vi
Introduction ...... 1-7
Chapter 1
English Studies as a British National Discourse ...... 8-3 1
Chapter 2
The University of Hong Kong and its Early English Education ...... 32-61
Chapter 3
English Literary Studies in the English Department ...... 62-93
Chapter 4
English Studies: Ideology and Practicality ...... 94- 112
Conclusion ...... 1 13-1 18
Appendices ...... 1 19-183
Bibliography ...... 184-196 List of Appendices
1 A list of lectures delivered before the Hong Kong Branch of the English Association, 1929-193 1 (Lectures delivered before the Hong Kong Branch of the English Association, 1929-1934) ...... 119
2 HKU: Appointment of a lecturer and tutor in English, 1927-28
a) The advertisement for the post (CO 12915 11) b) Correspondence between Government House, the University, the Colonial Office and the candidate (CO 12915 11)
3 Arthur Christopher Braine-Hartnell, Lecturer and Tutor in English, 1928-32
a) His application form for the post of English lecturer in 1928 (CO 12915 11) b) Translation of the Pali poem "Chanda-Kala" (The Lady of the Moon, 1936) c) Contribution to the HKU Students ' Union Magazine (November, 1931) d) Obituary issued by University College, Oxford (University College Record, Vol. IV, No. 2,1962)
4 HKU Advisory Committee. Confidential. Duncan Sloss. A note on salary scales. C. 1945-46 (BW 901585)
5 Adrian Paterson, Lecturer in English, 1936-38
a) In Memoriam (HKU Union Magazine, 1941) b) Poems by Paterson (HKU Union Magazine, 1937-38) ...... 148-152
6 Objectives of the English cuniculurn (HKU Calendar, the early 1920s) ...... --.I53
7 R. K. M. Simpson
a) Roll of Honour, 19 14-191 9 (University of Edinburgh, 1921) b) Obituaries (Edinburgh University Journal, Vol. 24, 1969-70; University of Hong Kong Gazette, 1969, Vol. XVII, No. 3) c) Photo of Simpson with the staff and graduates of the Arts Faculty, 1929 (HKU Union Magazine, c. 1929) d) Photo of Simpson with his wife Dora, Mr. and Mrs. George Bernard Shaw and Sir Robert Ho Tung in Hong Kong, c. 1933 (Old Hong Kong. Vol. 2)
8 Personnel of the English Department, HKU, 191 3 - 1964 [An incomplete list] (HKU Faculty/Departmental Reports, 1913- 1964) ...... 161-162 9 Renaldo Oblitas, Lecturer in English Language and Literature, 1946-1960s
a) A biography and photo of Oblitas (Hong Kong Album, 1965-66) b) A biography (Hong Kong Who 's who: 1958-60) ...... 163-164
10 An obituary of Dr. Katherine Whitaker (Lai Po Kan) (SOAS Information. Issue No: 457. 7thApril, 2003) ...... I65
11 Extracts of R. K. M. Simpson's wartime memoir (These Defenceless Doors. s.l.:s.n.) ...... -166
12 The Arts and English curriculum
a) Grouping of subjects in the Arts Faculty, 1917-1 8 and 1929-30 b) Syllabus of the English Department, 1917- 18 (HKU Faculty Reports) ...... I67-170
13 English literary courses in the Department of Extra-mural Studies, formally instituted in 1957. (Prospectus, Department of Extra-mural Studies, 1961-62) ...... 171
14 Two articles concerning undergraduate English literary studies at HKU in the 1950s
"The Comparison between Local Undergraduates and those of England." (The Hong Kong Undergrad, November, 1955) Some thoughts of a student of the Chinese Department about the discrimination helshe experienced as a Chinese Major in an English-medium university (The Hong Kong Undergrad, September, 1959) ...... 172-1 73
15 Edmund Blunden
a) A biography of Blunden written by Alan Green (HKU Gazette. 1962-65. Vol. XI, No. 5. lStAugust, 1964) b) A biography and photo of Blunden (Hong Kong Album, 1963-64. 3rded.) c) Backcover of Lee Lan Flies the Dragon Kite. (1962) d) Verses: On behalf of the University of Hong Kong in honour of the Vice- Chancellor Dr. L. T. Ride's marriage with Miss Violet May Witchell on 12'~ November, 1954 (Deposited in the British Library) ...... 174-1 78
16 The Masquers
a) Prologues of the plays produced in the late 1950s (Deposited in the British Library) b) An article concerning the Masquers' Golden Jubilee Production (The Undergrad, February, 1961) ...... 179-183 Abbreviations
The following abbreviations are used for the Public Records consulted in this thesis:
CO: Great Britain. Colonial Office. Archives. Public Record Office, London.
FO: Great Britain. Foreign Office. Archives. Public Record Office, London.
BW: Great Britain. British Council. Archives. Public Record Office, London. Colonialism and English Education at the University of Hong Kong, 1913-1964
Introduction
The concepts of culture, knowledge, scholarship and Empire are intertwined in our understanding of the expansion of British imperial power. Young (2001: 24) argued that "colonisation was not primarily concerned with transposing cultural values. They came as a by-product of its real objectives of trade, economic exploitation and settlement". However, while military force and trade played an important role in early colonialism, the Empire also became a complex cultural project, the ambiguities of which were clearly seen in debates over colonial education policy. One aspect of that project was the founding of educational institutions, including universities, an activity that went beyond a minimalist style of colonial administrative policy and that raised fundamental questions about the nature of the colonial enterprise. The University of Hong Kong (HKU) was founded in 1911 at the instigation of the Governor Frederick Lugard, incorporating the Hong Kong College of Medicine that had been established in 1887. At the Ceremony of laying the University Foundation Stone on 16~~March, 1910, Lugard highlighted that the institution aimed to provide civic training, and its doors were open to students of all creeds and races.' It was expected to be a place for cultural understanding and respect:
My conception, then, of this scheme is that it shall stand as a proof that the citizens of a British Colony are not solely engrossed in the pursuit of wealth, but that they realize the obligations which lie upon them to extend the subject races and to neighbouring and friendly peoples the benefits which the energy of their forefathers have conferred upon themselves. That Hongkong shall lead the way among Crown Colonies is proving anew that the British Empire is not merely a vast trading corporation, but has still the sacred fire of Imperial responsibility and is content to cast its bread upon the waters, without looking to immediate gain, assumed that it will return after many days.2
The imperial desire of the British was however most explicitly demonstrated by Kenelm H. Digby, the Professor of Surgery of the University, in a note he read to the University staff members in Stanley Internment Camp during the Japanese Occupation in 1944:
Frederick Lugard. Hong Kong University: Objects, History, Present Position and Prospects. 1910. Speeches at the Ceremony of Laying the Foundation Stone, 16' March, 1910. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. 1 The Hong Kong University is a matter of Imperial Policy and is a concern of the Foreign Office more than of the Colonial Office or of the local Colonial Government. It cannot be repeated too often that the University does not exist merely to supply highly educated men and women for the Colony of Hong Kong; that is a subsidiary f~nction.~
This thesis attempts to examine the ambivalence of the colonial academic "project" by looking at the significance of English education at HKU. Applying the idea of "project" in the case of HKU is controversial, considering that the University was not large in scale, suffering from a perennial lack of funding. More importantly, it was not a "colonial project" initiated entirely by the British colonialist government, and the founding of the Arts Faculty was financially supported by Cheung Iu Hing and Cheung Pat Sze, two Chinese consuls in Sumatra (Hanison, 1962c: 127). What expectations were there of a university founded in an administrative trading colony? HKU has been characterized as a distinctly "British" secular colonial institution in China; English was to be the medium of instruction, and the academic staff was to be predominantly British. This "Britishness" made the University an intended role model for western universities in China. English education was potentially a gateway to western knowledge, British traditions and values. At the same time, HKU was committed to the development of Chinese education; the University Ordinance of 1911 stated that "due provision shall be made for the study of the Chinese language and literat~re".~Towards the end of 1935, Sir Cecil Clementi, the Governor of Hong Kong and the Chancellor of the University, addressed the Royal Empire Society in London about the Chinese education at HKU:
The University of Hong Kong should become during the course of the 20th century a famous seat of Chinese learning, to which men throughout the 18 provinces would look [. . .] as Englishmen look at Oxford and Cambridge [. . .] for authoritative guidance in the study of their language, their literature, their history, their archaeology, their folklore, their religious beliefs, and the whole fabric of their ~ivilisation.~
In January, 1922, Sir Charles Addis, a new honorary graduate, expressed this view of the positioning of HKU:
You are come to the parting of the ways when you will have to decide whether your aim is to be confined to a merely local university .. . or expanded to the conception of an Imperial University corresponding to other universities of the home country, the dominions and colonies, exchanging with them from time to time its professors and
' BW 901585. Hong Kong University Advisory Committee. Confidential. No. HKUAC 9. Dated 9" December, 1944. According to Mellor (1992: 87), the requirement that the Chinese language and literature should form part of the cuniculum has remained ever since. It can still be found in the Calendar of HKU, 2003-04. Hornepage of the Chinese Department, HKU. 3rdMay, 2003.
The University was proud of its status as a secular British university in the Colony and saw itself as the model university for western institutions in China with its British ideals and traditions. On the one hand, the predominance of the English language at HKU was a distinctive feature within China. The University, on the other hand, was described as a "famous seat of Chinese learning" in the Far East. Through highlighting the importance of Classical Chinese ed~cation,~the University showed respect to Chinese civilization and literati tradition, and satisfied some parents' expectations that their children would learn some Chinese at HKU and that they would not be "denationalized" at this "British" institution. As English was perceived as an asset for trading and a gateway to modernity, there was a great demand for English education in Hong Kong. How were the demands of practicality and culture reconciled in learning English? Given that English literary studies in England was primarily a nationalistic discourse of England in the early twentieth century, how should the subject of "Englishness" be taught in Hong Kong? Publications on the history of HKU offer a range of resources for understanding the general background of the University, while we can consult the public records and the University document for a better understanding of the development of English education. However, it should be stressed that the archival record is far fiom complete, particularly in relation to the early years of the University. It is therefore not possible to reconstruct a full history of English education at HKU.
Publications on the History of HKU
Books written on the institutional history of HKU and the University founders have been published since the early 1960s when the University celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. They include University of Hong Kong: The First 50 Years (Harrison, ed. 1962a), The University of Hong Kong: An Informal History (Mellor, 1980), Lugard in Hong Kong (Mellor, 1992), Yi zhi yi ye zong guan qing <<-@-%$,R R'IE>> (Recollections fiom HKU Alumni) (Liu ed., 1993) and Dispersal and Renewal: Hong Kong University During the War Years (Matthews and Cheung eds., 1998). In
HKU was portrayed as a centre of Classical Chinese in China. A. H. Fenwick (1931a and 1931b) offered valuable insight into the significance of Classical Chinese Studies at the University. Lancelot Forster, the Professor of Education, also examined the Classics curriculum in the Education Journal celebration of the University's ninetieth anniversary, two important collections were published in 2002: Growing with Hong Kong: The University and its Graduates (a Convocation project) and An Impossible Dream: Hong Kong University from Foundation to Re-establishment, 191 0-1950 (Chan and Cunich, 2002). Various aspects of the University life, such as the experience of the wartime graduates and the impact of HKU on the society as a whole are discussed in these publications. They provide important insight into the history of the University. However, while the English language played a significant role in this English-medium university, little research has been undertaken on its English education, such as the curriculum and teaching personnel, whereas the publications on the early history of the Chinese Department provide a model for writing departmental history and good sources for understanding the early Chinese education at HKU (e.g. Lo, 1963 and Ching, 1997).
English Education at HKU, 1913-1964
This thesis attempts to examine the transplantation and development of English literary studies at HKU from 1913 to 1964. It offers a historical "microscopic" approach within a theoretical comparative framework. In this, an examination of the disciplinary development in England offers a more insightful reading of the archival materials of the English Department. The focus of the research is on the literary aspects of English studies and the English language, rather than on linguistics. While HKU students faced problems in mastering the English language in the English- medium university, literary studies was more culturally loaded and its adaptation or transplantation to colonial Hong Kong was more problematic. The thesis will focus on the gestation years of the Faculty of Arts to the post- Second World War years, and on the careers of two professors of English, R. K. M. Simpson and Edmund Blunden, who headed the English Department from 1920 to 1951 and from 1953 to 1961 respectively. Blunden was the Professor of English till 1964. There are two reasons for choosing this timeframe. Firstly, there are more detailed archival records available such as the curriculum, syllabi, staff publications and oral history concerning the Department in that period. Secondly, the two professors both expressed opinions about the teaching and learning of English language and literature which are helpful in contextualizing the development of the discipline at the University. The comments from Simpson and Blunden also make an interesting contrast, with Simpson being concerned more with practical and linguistic issues, and Blunden offering the perspective of a Romantic poet.
Research Methodology and Limitation
This thesis is presented through a mixture of thematic exposition and historical narrative. Ths mixed mode of presentation has been adopted as themes and topics reoccur in different historical periods, and because of the lack of a complete set of archival records. In addition, a macroscopic approach has been adopted in Chapter 1 to contextualize the thesis within a broader framework of the history of English literary studies in England. The study of English as a nationalistic discourse is examined in relation to the English Association founded in 1907. The Association emphasized the close link between national history and literature and national values of literary studies. There were branches of the Association in the Commonwealth, which included the Hong Kong Branch (1929-1940), and an examination of the relationship between the Central Branch and its Commonwealth branches can help understand its linguistic and cultural mission throughout the British Empire. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the national significance of the discipline in England and its expected roles in the dominions and colonies. The thesis then focuses on English education at HKU and takes its English Department as a case study. In Chapter 2, the distinctiveness of HKU as a British secular colonial institution in China is made clear through a brief set of comparative studies. Through comparing the University with the proposed Wuchang University, Shanxi Imperial University and Canton Provincial College, the "Britishness" of HKU with its high proportion of British staff and the choice of English as the medium of instruction becomes evident, for which the use of English as a medium of instruction was iconic. Chapter 3 reconstructs aspects of the first fifty years of the English Department, focusing on the period when it was headed by Simpson fi-om 1920 to 1951. Simpson's publications provide insight into how English teaching and learning took place at that time. He highlighted the role of English literary studies within an interdisciplinary curriculum which emphasized that English was a gateway to western civilization and culture or "general knowledge". This negates the general belief that English literary studies was merely a subject devoted to expounding "Britishness" or "Englishness", and widened its appeal to students in Hong Kong by presenting it as an aid in the acquisition of western knowledge. This chapter also introduces the development of the Department by looking at the curriculum reform, the tutorial system, the role of drama and the difficulties the students had in mastering the English language and understanding literary and cultural ailusions. English was a compulsory subject for some non-Arts students till 195 1, and its practical and cultural roles will be evaluated. Chapter 4, the concluding chapter, is concerned with the practicality and ideology of English Studies as a branch of Arts education at HKU. English had an ambiguous status at the University. It played an important role as the medium of instruction, but the English Department was housed in the Faculty of Arts, sometimes viewed as an "unwanted stepbrother" of the Faculties of Engineering and Medicine. Humanities subjects have been looked down upon as impractical and English literary studies, in particular, was often regarded as merely a decorative "feminized" subject involving the cultivation of "sensibilityy'. English was not regarded as a branch of professional education and one may even argue whether the "sensibility" of English literary studies can be taught or assessed. The advent of Practical Criticism in the 1920s and the impact of structuralism on English literary criticism in the early 1970s were two forms of intellectual revolt against this notion of English literary studies as promoting a particular "sensibility7'. English Studies became increasingly an interdisciplinary enterprise, interacting with disciplines such as Linguistics, Psychoanalysis, Sociology, Anthropology and Economics. Some of these developments were understood as promoting literary studies as a more objective and scientific discipline, but the rise of postcolonial theory in the wake of decolonization involved an explicit attack on the model of English Studies based on a particular national sensibility. English literary studies has been perceived as one of the "masks of conquest", (Viswanathan, 1990), and while this thesis argues that English studies was not imposed on students as a kind of "hard core" imperialism at HKU, it is evident that the language and the discipline played an important role in the developing and maintenance of the system of governance in the colony. Firstly, mastery of the English language was sought by the residents of the Colony as an asset in trade and commerce. Secondly, English literary studies was presented as a gateway to "general knowledge" which was not restricted to the knowledge of English and its culture. Further, English literary studies was the subject which arguably set the general tone of the colonial secular university as a "humanist surrogate for religion" (Widdowson, 1982: 5). It played an iconic, yet ambiguous role at the "British" university. While English language education was prized at HKU, Arts subjects, which included English literary studies, were frequently looked down upon on grounds of "impracticality". In the British context, English literary studies had also been seen as inferior to the study of Classics before it was re-appraised within a nationalistic discourse in the early twentieth century. While English literary studies was ideologically promoted as a national subject potentially open to all in England, English literature also took on elitist overtones as a subject confined to the colonial university. A discussion of the development of English studies in Hong Kong can show the dilemmas of the discipline transplanted into a colonial context, against the background of its complex evolution from a nationalistic discourse to a would-be scientific enterprise. Research into the history of English studies within the colonial context can also serve to illuminate debates about the ideological status of the discipline that have been central to postcolonial theory. Chapter 1 English Studies a British National Discourse
Introduction
Since the advent of postcolonial studies with the groundbreaking publication of Edward Said's Orientalism (1978), the relationship of the colonizers and the colonized has been much theorized in its relation to the idea of "Empire". The teaching of the English language in the anglophone societies and ex-colonies was one of the focal points for discussion and the English language and English literary studies have been regarded as tools of colonial conquest (Viswanathan, 1990). One important aspect of this is the conceptualization of the relationship between learners and users of English, including literary English in the colonies and the "imagined" linguistic community of Britain.' In Hong Kong, English was not conceived of merely as a tool for commerce and for the training of English teachers. Since the founding of the University, it has been assigned an important cultural role. Clearly, HKU was understood as a colonial "project" or "imperial asset" valued for its English education. The aim of this chapter is to give some idea of the background against which English studies was transplanted to and developed in Hong Kong. The basis for discussion is the English Association, for as a world-wide association for the promotion of English studies, in particular English literary studies, it provides useful insight into the tensions and contradictions involved in the promotion of the study of English in the context of colonialism. Founded in 1906, the English Association aimed at uniting the English people through the promotion of their common literary heritage. In addition, it had branches in the colonies and dominions (subsequently the Commonwealth). The Association shared similar objectives to the British Council in spreading English language and culture abroad. It should be noted that the British Council, set up in 1936, was hded by the British Government through the Foreign Office. It had a worldwide networking. As mentioned in its Annual Report of 1940-41,
Under the terms of a Royal Charter, granted to "The British Council" in 1940, the purpose of the organisation was '"promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the English language abroad, and developing closer cultural relations between the United Kingdom and other countries, for the purposes of benefiting the British Commonwealth of Nations". (cited in Phillipson, 1992: 137- 138)
' The term "Imagined Community" is taken from Benedict Anderson's work (2ndedition, 1991). 8 As for the English Association, the List of Members (1936-37) showed that branches had been set up in Australia, Canada, Ceylon, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand and South Africa. An examination of the "imperial rhetoric", notably the claim of universalism in English literary studies, is significant for understanding the teaching of the British national discourse in England and in the Commonwealth.
English Literary Studies in Anglo-phone Countries and the Commonwealth
There has been much research done on the institutionalization of English as an academic discipline in Britain, specifically in Scotland (Potter, 1937; Palmer, 1965; Court, 1992; Miller, 1997; Crawford, 2000), the United States (Court, 2001), Europe (Engler and Haas, 2000), the Pacific countries such as Australia (e.g. Docker, 1978) and some former British colonies such as India (e.g. Viswanathan, 1990; Rajan 1992). There seems to be a general belief that English studies was inseparable fiom the idea of Empire (Evans, 1993: 7). It should be noted that at the beginning of the twentieth century, debates were underway about the ownership and birthright of the English literary heritage and the "King's English". In this, the national value of English studies resided in the fact that English was the mother tongue of the English. (This raises of course a question of the relation of "English" to "British".) The colonies and the dominions were products of the British territorial conquests; English became the linguistic currency in the domain of commerce, but increasingly as time went by it dominated in government and education. An account of the relationship between the London Branch of the Association with the Commonwealth branches can illustrate aspects of the cultural dynamics of colonialism. Since much research has been done in the field on the objectives of the English Association (e.g. Palmer, 1965; King, 1987; Bhattacharyya, 1991), I will only briefly describe the origin of the English Association and its objectives in what follows.
Objectives of the English Association
The English Association, founded in 1906, sought to promote the scholarship of the English language and literature, and to raise the standard of education and especially self-education, to increase its membership to the utmost, recruiting fi-om the whole British Commonwealth (Newbolt, 1928: A2-A3). As Sir Henry Newbolt (1 862-1938), the President of the Association in 1928, pointed out, another core objective of the Association was the desire for fellowship on the basis of the English language and literature: "The original suggestion, as I understood, had come fiom several members of the teaching profession who desired to establish some kind of fellowship among themselves and at the same time to get into touch with the world of English letters" (Newbolt, 1928: A2; my emphasis). How was this ideal community - the world of
English letters - conceptualized? In reflecting on its mission and objectives, the English Association stressed its role in the promotion of a national culture (Palmer, 1965: 179):
The opportunity for stock-taking was provided in May 1919 by the Board of Education's establishment of a Departmental Committee to report on The Teaching of English in England. The initiative in proposing this Report had been taken by the English Association, a society formed in 1906 by two schoolmasters, F. S. Valentine and G. E. S. Coxhead, 'to foster and develop the study of English as an essential element in our national education'.
The Association saw itself as an ideal meeting point of English scholarship in England and the Commonwealth. Its founding members were also affiliated closely with the Departmental Committee of the Board of Education, and it was very much an establishment body:
Nine members of the English Association were among the fourteen members of the [Departmental Committee of the Board of Education] and Sir Henry Newbolt was simultaneously chairman of the Association and of the Committee. George Sampson, author of English for the English, a book which was published while the Committee was still sitting and which drew extensively on material on the Committee was gathering, described the Departmental Committee as 'a meeting of the English Association under another name'. (King, 1988: 3 8)
In 1921, the Report on the Teaching of English in England was published by the Departmental Committee. It became known as the Newbolt Report as the Committee was chaired by Sir Henry Newbolt, a prominent member of the Association. Its dominant theme was the promotion of English literary studies as a national force to bind the English people together. Palmer (1965: 179) offers his views about the Report: "It is for the most part a rather uncritical acclaim of the prestige of English literature as an educational instrument. Scattered through its 400 pages are reiterated generalisations about the 'glories' of the national literature." The English Association emphasized that English literary studies could promote national unity, and overcome the class stratification which threatened the harmony of the nation. Secondly, the subject was regarded as a form of humane education worthy to be studied by more people living in every "British territory" and even by all "members of the human society". In the Presidential Address of 1928 entitled "The Idea of an English Association", Newbolt presented English literary studies as a national discourse for England. The aftermath of the First World War was regarded as a "fateful moment" for the country, with its devastating loss of life and the shattering of the authority of the Church. Newbolt believed that English literary studies could lead the country back to some golden age when the English were proud of the achievements of their country. The cultural achievements of the Victorian age may have been his model for the restoration and rebuilding of the country. As for the appeal of English literature to the masses, Newbolt pointed out that the vernacular culture would not always remain in great part the possession and influence of a single class or a small minority of the highly educated, like that of the Classics in Greek and Latin. Newbolt claimed that English literary studies "is in no ways limited by class associations" (12):
I speak in the faith that this is not so: in the faith that the national culture should be, and in good time may be, the tradition and inheritance of all British men and women who care to receive it [. . .I We had concentrated our national will on civilising political energy at home, in our own islands. (9; my emphasis)
It is clear that Newbolt regarded the promotion of English literary studies as a nationalistic enterprise. Literary heritage was the common property of all the British people. The Newbolt Report could be seen as an example of the promotion of the "vernacular ideal", which involved the rejection of a common European high culture based in Latin vernacular and the attempt to raise the prestige of the European vernacular languages (French, German, Italian, English, etc.) (Hutton, 2002). National languages and vernacular literature became definitional for national culture. In examining the national role of English studies, it is important to raise a question: Who were the "English" - or "British" - people? - given that the branches of the Association were set up in the Commonwealth. In 1928, Newbolt pointed out in his address that the English Association had already known how English literary studies could be best fostered within its own frontier; and would therefore best know how to extend its operations over the whole English territoly (13; my emphasis). Did the Association aim to extend literary "nationalism" to those non-English peoples who lived outside Britain? Were the colonial subjects living in the dominions and colonies included in the nationalistic movement? While the study of English gradually gained recognition as a national discourse for the English people, the English Association also stressed the humanizing and classless role of English literature for "the members of a human society":
[Tlhe English language, expounded by a [Otto] Jespersen or a Henry Bradley [Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary], becomes a part of our national being, a sign and symbol of our national character; [. . .] And English, expounded by a Ten Brink or an Andrew Bradley, becomes the explicit mind of England, seen in its most luminous and most pregnant moments. (2)
"Englishness" of the English Association
In 1910, Charles Harold Herford (1 853-193 1) delivered an address entitled "The Bearing of English Studies upon the National Life" to the Manchester Branch of the English ~ssociation.~He pointed out that the English language was a national asset. The relation of literature to nationality, he believed, could not be simply expressed. The literature of a people is like a mirror, reflecting the age (3):
For the English people, the culture which its own literature affords is the companionship not of alien genius but of its own best moments, the finer spirit of its own ruling temper, the explicit affirmation of its instinctive but vague surmises. (14)
Herford suggested that literature could fill in the gap in history writing and it was a "written history" itself, an ally of history. He believed that literature had more or less contributed to the study of the national past as history proper, because it could enlarge the Englishmen's understanding of national life, its "own best moments". The English language and literature were emphasized along with pride, as they were the "birthright, national assets and heritage of the Englishmen". The national pride with the language and literature was reflected in the recurrent use of possessive pronouns like "our country" and "us", showing Herford's identification of himself with his countrymen in fellowship of literature. English literature as a "spiritual force" to unite the Englishmen was best illustrated with the following quotation:
[The writing of Milton] resounded and reverberated in thousands of English hearts, was indeed alive; a great spiritual force permanently added to the heritage and birthright of Englishmen [. . .] helped to constitute the spirit and temper of the England in which we live. (1 1)
Some may argue that the recognition of British English literature at the expense of American literature hrther suggested the intention of some British to convey British
According to the official homepage of the English Association, C. H. Herford was the President of the Association in 19 19. 19" December, 2002.
Lauwerys pointed out, the teaching of history was - and is - a particularly useful vehicle for biased presentation (1962: 9). Any narrative of the history between the Americans and the British involves controversy. For example, the War of Independence for the British, was called the Revolutionary War by the Americans. Though literature was not classified as historical writing, it was often seen as useful for understanding the society of a fictional setting set at a certain hstorical period. In this, literature, history and nation were intertwined. Stanley Baldwin (1 867-1947), the British Prime Minister in the 1920s and the mid 1930s and the President of the English Association in 1927, made a remark concerning the "Englishness" of English literature and its symbolic meanings to Englishmen. He pointed out that English literature was the heritage conferred on Englishmen, and particularly on countrybred Engli~hmen.~ Stanley Mordaunt Leathes (1861-1938), in a lecture for the English Association entitled "The Teaching of English in Universities", highlighted the "kinetic unity of national life and thought and literary expression" (1913: 14). He believed that Englishmen who gave their time of study to the masterpieces "will achieve some knowledge of the race to which they were born, of its history and the thoughts on which that history is built" (10) and the subject should be widely studied at the universities. Like Herford, Leathes also believed that the history of England and the history of its literature went hand in hand (12). It should be noted, however, that both Leathes and Herford discussed the significance of English literature for humanity as a whole, i.e. as a universal discourse as well. In considering the ways in which English literary studies has been associated with English national discourse, we should note that Herford evoked both the "world of English letters" and the concept of the "citizenship of Humanity": "ENGLISH [. . .] will shrivel up into something very near the insignificance and aridity of dust, or expand until it touches the heights and the depths of humanity" (1910: 1). This
English. English Association Magazine. 1936. p. 464. 13 combination of cultural nationalism and humanistic universalism is specifically grounded in a national literature:
If, then, literature is the clue to an understanding of the national life of a unique kind, and if our own national life is, as, without any blustering patriotism, we must admit it to be, of great and enduring significance in the history of civilization and of manlund, the claim of the study of English Literature to be reckoned an indispensable part of what are called in education the Humanities, standing on at least equal terms with any other class of Literae Humaniores, must surely be allowed. (1910: 14)
Herford argued for the beneficial impact of literature on mental and moral health. The English Association aimed at promoting English studies within the British Empire and to members of humanity in a broad sense:
The mewbolt Report] anticipating that if we use English literature as a means of contact with great minds, as a channel by which to draw upon their experience with profit and delight, and as a bond of sympathy between the members of a human society, we shall succeed, as the best teachers of the Classics have often succeeded, in their more limited field. (Newbolt, 1928: 10)
This quotation shows how English literary studies, a university subject in England since the 1830s, possessed the humanizing role of Classics (but not its elite status) and could form "a bond of sympathy between the members of a human society7'. It was capable of transcending time and place as a "means of contact with great minds".
English Spirit: Quasi-universal?
As we have discussed earlier, English language and literature, in particular, were perceived as national treasures belonging to the English people:
The [Newbolt] Report declared the necessity of what must be, in however elementary a form, a liberal education for all English children, whatever their position or occupation in life: that on all the evidence available an education of this kind is the greatest benefit which could be conferred on any citizen of a great state, and that the common right to it, the common discipline and enjoyment of it, the common tastes and associations connected with it, would form a new element of national unity, linking together the mental life of all classes by experiences which have hitherto been the privilege of a limited section [. . .] We have a common culture, rudimentary but really national. (Newbolt, 1928: 9 -10)
The national qualities of the discipline were suggested by its innate ability to unite people of all social classes, based on a shared historical experience. Newbolt attempted to reinforce the link between the study of English and the English race with the idea of liberal education. One should note that Newbolt also put emphasis on the universalizing nature of English literary studies the benefits of which "could be conferred on any citizen of a great state". Though he did not elaborate on this ideal belief which seemed to contradict the idea of a national discourse, a few core members of the English Association also made similar statements about the role of English literary studies as both national and universal discourses. English as a universal discourse, however, could still be perceived as a projection of the national patriotic discourse. The notion of English studies as universal liberal education can be traced back to the early nineteenth century when literature was introduced to the lower-middle class through the Mechanics' Institute. Considering its humanizing role, J. W. Hudson, a zealous adult educationist, pointed out the following:
[. . .] receiving cultivation, not in reading the latest accounts of misdemeanours and local calamities [i.e. the local proletarian weekly press] but in imbibing instruction and high gratification fi-om the perusal of select and valuable works whether they lead him with the traveller across the pathless tracts of ocean, or cheer and console him with moral sketches of human nature. (Best, 1971 : 232)
Hudson's idea of cultivating the reader's mind with "select and valuable works" is overtly didactic. The books were chosen by the Mechanics' Institutes and schools for the workers. English canonical works, especially those that could give moral lessons to the reader, and "cheer and console him with moral sketches of human nature'' were on the recommendation list. Also, the readings were expected to broaden the reader's cultural and historical horizons, like a guide, which could direct the "traveller across the pathless tracts of ocean". This liberal education through English literary studies was much more open to the lower-middle class than the elitist discipline of Greek and Latin classical studies. In this way, we can see how English literary studies came to be regarded as a "humanist surrogate for religion" (Widdowson, 1982: 5) which could be imagined as appealing across the boundaries of class in the context of Britain and across the races in the context of empire. In the early twentieth century, in particular after the devastation of the First World War, the English people began increasingly to question the authority of the Church. In an era of nationalism, some institutions such as the English Association clung to the national cultural icons such as Shakespeare and Milton, and elevated literary traditions to arouse people's pride in their nation. There was an attempt to use literary nationalism to deal with the disillusion caused by the devastation of the War. While there was a belief that English literary studies had a right to claim classical status on a level with Greek and Roman civilizations, Newbolt's address also used grand language of "national" appeal and of a sentimental nature in relation to the mass of the people, in effect denying that it was an elitist discourse. T. S. Eliot and William Ralph Inge, the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral and in 1937 the President of the English Association, also made the parallel between English literature and religion as a force for social unity in Britain. Eliot stated that "what is part of our culture is also a part of our lived religion" (Notes Towards the DeJinition of Culture, 1948). Literary culture was regarded as constituting and maintaining human bonds in the same way as religion. "Our lived religion" suggests that the national bonding is organic and has been strengthened by cultural contribution to make it alive. Dean Inge understood that it was necessary to restore a sense of national unity afier the World War: "The object of education should be to draw all classes together7'. This was the message of his Presidential Address to the English Association entitled "Modernism in Literature", published in 1937. George Gordon, the Professor of English at Oxford, compared the role of English literature with religion after the end of the First World War in The Discipline of Letters (1923):
The literary doctrine must be worth examining which on its higher or University branches bears such very poor fruit. It is briefly this: that England is sick, and that English Literature must save it. The Churches (as I understand) having failed, and social remedies being slow, English Literature has now a triple function: still, I suppose, to delight and instruct us, but also, and above all, to save our souls and heal the State . . . . Literature, to these reformers, is everywhere a sacrament, a holy remedy, and apparently almost the only sacrament now left. (cited in Baldick, 1983: 105)
For sections of the cultural elite, English literature supplanted Christianity as part of a search for the foundation of national culture in Britain. This ideological parallelism will be further discussed in the following chapters of the thesis.
Mission of the Branches outside Britain
No clear overall picture of the relationship between the English Association and its overseas branches can be found in its publications. However, the Chairman's Report of the Association in 1944 does offer some insight into its vision for the branches in the colonies and dominions. In the Chairman's Report, Arundell Esdaile (1880- 1956)1° discussed the "education of English", and the academic networking of the Association with foreign universities:
lo Esdaile was once the President of the Library Association and the Secretary of the British Museum. 16 It would be a great mistake if this study were to be confined to the commercial and practical currency. It is not merely a practical form of English, such as "Basic", or a utilitarian currency for purposes of trade and travel which should be extended in foreign countries, but the serious study and appreciation of our literature, philosophy and general point of view. It should be the "education of English" which we should endeavour to diffuse, by enabling foreigners not merely to read our newspapers, but to understand and enjoy the plays of Shakespeare and the great poems which embody the spirit of England. [. . .] there will be needed a concerted effort to inaugurate Chairs and Departments of English in all the great foreign universities and to bring these together for mutual assistance and the maintenance of high standards of scholarship [. ..] steps must be taken to prepare hundreds of foreign candidates for university posts, and the only way to do this is to make provision in all our British Institutes and Schools of English abroad for the inculcation of University standards of scholarship in English. [. . .] In this way it is hoped to encourage in all parts of the world the higher study of the English language up to University standards, and to assist in the preparation of teachers and professors to hold Chairs or Readerships of English in foreign universities."
The Report showed that the Association had the conscious aim of setting up a worldwide "English" network. "English" might mean the language and national literature, English ideas and thoughts, or the "Spirit of England". Intellectual liaisons were encouraged between the English Association and British institutions abroad. The London Headquarters of the Association had the vision to direct the institutionalization of English studies in those British institutions in the Commonwealth. The role and the vision of the Association over its Commonwealth branches were further revealed in the Report:
The English Association is the representative institution in England for the study of the history and development of the language. Its members consist of teachers of English as well as others interested in English language and literature. It has branches or circles of students of English all over the British Empire, and a Scholarlistic committee to assist and advise them in all problems concerning the teaching of the English language and literature. It is anxious to extend its work to foreign schools and Institutes abroad in all parts of the world where English is scientifically taught. [. ..I Each branch, in addition to receiving the publications from this country, will hold periodical meetings, lectures, or discussions as it may decide, will elect its own officers as its activities require, and it will report at regular intervals to the Executive Committee in London. [.. .] From the student's point of view the principal advantage deriving from membership of the local branch will be that he will come into touch with a body of experts who will be able to assist him in any particular studies of the language or literature which he may wish to undertake for university or scholarlistic examinations, such as the preparation of university theses for doctorates or degrees for which special research is required.
The above citation shows the objectives of the Association towards the branches outside Britain in terms of academic support and liaison, and the promotion of English studies overseas up to the university level. The overseas branches were advised to look upon the Central Branch for direction. Although correspondence
" BW21369. The English Association. 3, Cromwell Place, London (October, 1944) between the Central Branch and the Hong Kong Branch could not be found in the archive, the publications of the Hong Kong Branch suggest some of its activities and concerns in relation to English teaching and learning. They also show the personnel involved in the setting up of this local branch and their linguistic and literary interests.
Hong Kong Branch and its Linkage with the University
According to English Association Bulletin (No. 7, November, 1930), a report published tri-annually, the Hong Kong Branch was founded in 1929 along with two other new branches in Leicester and Wellington, South Africa. The Hong Kong Branch was listed as the only branch in China. It was said to have made "an excellent beginning", having one hundred and fifty members, among which twenty-six were also members of the Central Association and two were Life members: Sir William Hornell, the fourth Vice-Chancellor of HKU (1924-1937) and a Chinese Jardine Compradore named Leung Ho. Six meetings were held during the season. The inaugural lecture entitled "The Story of the Word 'Tea"' was given by Sir Cecil Clementi, the Governor of Hong Kong (1925-30), on 5th November, 1929. The Bulletin also showed that the following personnel of HKU were members of the Association: the Rev. Father G. Bryne and Father MacDonald of Ricci Hall, Professor J. L. Shellshear, Bernard G. Birch, a lecturer in English and Professor R. K. M. Simpson, the Head of the English Department. The rest of the members mainly came from the Government, English missionary schools, a vernacular school, the legal and business sectors, and among them there were some Chinese. There was a link between the Hong Kong Branch and the University, as Professor Simpson was the Honorary Secretary of the local branch fiom 1929 to 1937. He was succeeded by Keith W. Salter, an English lecturer of the University, in 1939. The archival materials mainly give details about the series of lectures held by the Hong Kong Branch. Although limited in scope, the lecture series provide valuable information on English teaching and the literary and linguistic interests of some members in the Colony. For example, Simpson pointed out the difficulties of teaching and learning of English at HKU in one of his lectures given for the Association. Hornell gave two lectures entitled "The Roots of Convention in Poetry" and "Augustine Birrell" in 1930-31. A. H. Fenwick, a lecturer in Civil Engineering, delivered a lecture on F. W. H. Myers before the Hong Kong Branch in 1930."
See Appendix 1 for a list of the lectures delivered before the Hong Kong Branch of the English Association, 1929-3 1. 18 According to the List of Members, the Hong Kong Branch continued to operate up to 1941, the date of the Japanese invasion. Then, the Hong Kong Branch was not on the List of Officers of 1951-52 and 1953-54. The Commonwealth branches that were set up after the War were in Queensland and Sydney of Australia, Alexandria of Egypt, Allahabad and Madras of India and Forthare of South Africa. Having illustrated the background of the English Association with an account of the
Hong Kong Branch, I am going to address a key question in this section - the place of English-speaking colonial subjects, such as the numerous Chinese members of the Hong Kong Branch, in relation to the national literary programme. The promotion of the "spirit of England" presents a romantic image of the supposedly innate qualities of the English language and literature. One area of ambiguity is of course the relationship of this Englishness to the complexities of British identity and to the language politics of literary nationalism in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. My focus here is to discuss how some British colonies responded to English literary studies, a subject which as we have seen has been regarded as one of the "masks of conquest" (Visawanathan, 1990), a tool of British imperial hegemony. Docker (1978: 26) argued that there was a ruling anglocentric assumption in the university teaching of English, which was derived from the total experience of colonialism and neocolonialism in Australia. But did ths anglocentric assumption, grounded in the sensibility of Englishness, allow for the participation of colonial subjects? One view of colonialism, associated with postcolonial theory, is that it is based primarily in racial categorization and exclusion (Young, 1995). However, others have argued that governing the empire required the manipulation of cultural symbols associated with social status through the co-option of local elite (Cannadine, 2001). In a personal letter dated 2ndFebruary, 1927, Sir Henry Newbolt associated the teaching of English language and literature to the native Africans with a kind of "civilizing mission":
[I have had] tea at the Colonial Office with Hans Vischer, who seems glad to have me on the Education Committee for making Niggers into Noble Natives on the principles of the Newbolt Report. This is of course quite in the direct line for me and I'm looking forward to it [. ..I. (Margaret Newbolt, 1942: 350, my emphasis)
The letter was collected in The Later Life and Letters of Sir Henry Newbolt, edited by his wife Margaret Newbolt. Although this culturally imperialistic comment was directed to the native Africans only, it suggests how English was presented as a civilizing and enlightening subject for the peoples of the Empire in general. But this implies that there was no fundamental. racial banier to acquiring an understanding of English literature, and the obvious parallel was with Christian missionary activity. We should note in this the different cultural position of the white settler colonies, which became dominions, and the administrative colonies such as India and Hong Kong. Brutt-Griffler (2002) pointed out that English education was not simply an imperial imposition on colonial subjects. She claimed that critics sometimes neglected the fact that colonial subjects also demanded the learning of English themselves when they understood that knowledge of English could help them acquire western knowledge and benefit their livelihood. In this, a mastery of the language was seen primarily as a practical social and commercial tool. However, in the following, I will show that the English Association sought to highlight the "Englishness" of the English language, rather than its importance as a tool of trade. These attributes of national culture were believed to be valuable not only for Englishmen, but were held to have universal appeal and thus were of value for the colonial subjects. This raises again the question I posed earlier: Were there any organic links between the non-English native peoples and the English language and culture found in the empire? Although not explicitly in the form of a "civilizing mission", I argue that there was an attempt by the English Association to construct an imaginary community of "Englishness" in the Empire, manifesting some imperial motifs which appealed to the colonial subjects.
Expanding Motifs outside Britain
In examining the objectives of the English Association towards the Empire, Docker's argument for the British ruling anglocentric assumptions appears valid. He pointed out two anglocentric assumptions as illustrations: firstly, "standards" can only be formed by studying the great tradition of English literature, from Chaucer onwards, and secondly, the recruitment of staff (the English, Americans or Australians) was limited to those whose primary teaching interests lay in English literature, and by the use of tenure to enforce anglocentric stability and continuity (1978: 26-27). Robert Phillipson's Linguistic Imperialism (1992) was an important contribution to this topic. He compared the role of English in the colonies to the role played by Greek and Latin in western Europe and looked into the interlocking relationships of class and racial stratification and linguistic and cultural purism. These issues will be further discussed in the thesis. Nevertheless, Phillipson (1992: 115), citing an unpublished work by George Perren, showed that there was considerable diversity in educational practice in the colonies of the British Empire, which had no well-formulated policies: Education in each colony tended to be greatly influenced by individuals - governors, directors of education, and particularly by heads of schools or institutions. Colonial educators and administrators were very wary indeed about the relevance of Indian examples and experience, and Macaulay had little influence [. . .] The Colonial Office published reports by its advisory committees, often composed of those with direct experience in various colonies, but did not lay down rules, only principles. In practice, there were great differences between the various colonies. (Perren, ms.)
Colonial education policies were usually stated in broad terms, and it is useful to examine the rhetoric used in presenting the principles in confidential correspondence and published reports. A comparison of the policies announced to the public and the discussion by the committees of the English Association and the Colonial Office could reflect the concern they had when formulating the language policies. In the following, I will discuss some of the linguistic and cultural issues with which the English Association and the Colonial Office were concerned when formulating their objectives in relation to English teaching and learning in colonial contexts. The gestation of the "language policies" of the Colonial Office will be hrther explored in the next chapter, taking the colonial language education of HKU in its first fifty years as a case study.
Ownership of the English Language and Literature
Who has ownership of "English" and who is eligible to teach the English language and literature? Widdowson (1994: 377) points out that as the English people and their language are bound together by both "morphology" and history, so can the English lay claim to this linguistic territory, arguing that the language belongs to them and that they are the custodians? The term "morphology" is apparently used metaphorically to refer to the organic bond between the English people and the English language. In the view of some purists, England is where real or proper English is to be found, preserved, and listed like a property of the National Trust (Widdowson, 1994: 377). Authentic English, i.e. British literary English could only be found in the romanticized "happy island". The growing kinds of English used outside the "happy island" were described as "offshoots and outgrowths":
Of course, English, of a kind, is found elsewhere as well, still spreading, a luxuriant growth of imperial seed. Seeded among other people but not ceded to them. At least not completely. For the English still cling tenaciously to their property and try to protect it from abuse. Let us acknowledge (let us concede) that there are other kinds of English, offshoots and outgrowths, but they are not real or proper English, not the genuine article. (Widdowson, 1994: 377-378) The English Association was also alert to the growth of a number of varieties of the English language around the world and their "divergence" from standard British English. The highlighting of the "difference" did not represent acceptance of these varieties, but in its emphasis on the lack of sameness and deviation, a crisis faced by the English people due to the deterioration of their language and cultural contamination:
What [Dr. W. R. Inge, the Dean of St. Paul's Cathederal and President of the English Association, 19371 said about the course of English letters left on my mind a vague sense of England and English authors surrounded by depraved and predatory foreigners, whose corrupting influences from time to time washed in on this happy island [...I. (Guedalla, 1937: 463)
The Association promoted linguistic purism and the notion that British English, particularly its literary form, was regarded as a culturally and linguistically superior form, possessing equal status to some ancient languages such as Chinese and Sanskrit.13The English Association claimed to have a role in preserving the language of the British Empire and set British English as the default standard. British literary English was looked on with pride and the English Association regarded the preservation as a sacred duty to maintain the language's "integrity and original character" from any kinds of deterioration. This mission of the Association was shown in particular in the Chairman's Report of 1944:
Our language is going through an unprecedented period of crisis and development, such as has never occurred in the history of any other great language [...I It is therefore of the highest importance that some organisations such as ours should carefully watch and guide its development, in view of the failure of these and other great international languages to preserve their integrity and original character.I4
While the Association attempted to position British English as one of the great languages, it was aware of the challenges for British English to keep its original character with the growth of a variety of Englishes. The issue was again raised in relation to European varieties of English in the following comment:
The reaction surely offers us a good chance for starting Branches of the Association in British Institutes abroad. The best students will want to know all about the latest developments of the Spoken and Written Tongue [...I We should include in our chief publications, such as "English", regular articles on the various form of International English which will inevitably arise from the extension of language overseas. Someone
l3 BW 21369. English Association. Chairman Report by Arundell Esdaile. October, 1944. l4 BW 21369. English Association. Chairman Report by Arundell Esdaile. October, 1944. ought to write an article on the differences betsveen English and American speech and the accents or dialects of the various dominions. Then there are the current divergences of our tongue as spoken in France, Italy, Spain, rc'onvay, Poland and so forth . . . Should not the present opportunity be taken of making a special study of these divergences by some expert phonetician or glotolog~st[sic.]? Should this not be the work of our Association? [...I From all the above suggestions you will realise that I conceive our Association as one to promote the study of our language rather than of our literature, ancient or contemporary [...I For the sake of English students and teachers we must offer the attractions of reviews on contemporary literature and the publication of original poetry and essays of criticism. But I submit that these things should come second to one primary purpose which should be the promotion in our country and outside it of high standards of English."
Contemporary literature was also recommended, but the priority was to maintain a high standard of English. The standard was to be found in the language of the canonical works. Blunt (1936: 274), in his letter to the Editor of English, the journal of the English Association, pointed out that "the English language [...I is a living thing, growing, altering, assimilating. To 'preserve' it is unnecessary, so long as the Literature of the past remains our heritage: to control it by central authority would be to stereotype its elasticity and deaden its vitality". The Association was in fact caught in this dilemma. Its aim was to preserve British literary English by setting the standard itself, yet it was ideologically committed to the free or natural development of the language, unhindered by any central authority. It examined the growing varieties of English outside Britain, but mainly in relation to their deviation fi-om British English. The English Association had some pretensions to act as an Academy or central authority over the English language, but it was also alert to the importance of encouraging creativity in English writing so as to keep the language alive. The individual branches also had their autonomy in catering for their interests and organizing activities. The correspondence among the members of the Association showed that there was a struggle between upholding a conservative standard and encouraging the vitality of the English language. English was both seen as a historical heritage and a lively and receptive language:
We are threatened in England to-day with a tendency towards a uniform and machine- made language, without those amusing varieties and subtleties and idiosyncrasies which used to be ours. But machine-made language leads to a machine thought. That is why it is important to preserve one's English. (Bridge, 1937: 465)
l5 BW 2/369. English Association. A letter from Harold Goad to Boas, Chairman of the Developments Sub-Committee, the Executive Committee of the English Association. loh May, 1944. British Literary English, Basic English or World Englishes
The Central Branch of the English Association devoted much discussion to the kinds of English that should be taught at universities outside Britain, anticipating the rise of American English and other "World Englishes". There was also a debate on the choice of teaching literary English, business English, scientific English or Basic English. The preference of one kind of "English language" over the other suggests the different purposes for acquiring the language. In the following, I will show that the English Association had a preference for standard British literary English to other varieties of English. Basic English and scientific English were looked down on as an inferior variety, when compared with standard British English. C. K. Ogden was the "inventor" of Basic English, which was at the centre of an influential movement for promoting the language as an international medium of cross- cultural communication between the mid-1930s and the mid-1940s (Tong, 1999: 332). Basic English was a simplified version of the English language. I. A. Richards, a collaborator on the project with Ogden, defined the language as "English made simple by limiting the number of its words to 850, and by cutting down the rules for using them to the smallest number necessary for the clear statement of ideas" in Basic Englishes and its Uses (cited in Tong, 334-335). Tong summarized the expectation of the role of Basic English: Could Basic English's universality be acknowledged as lifting the curse of Babel or was it merely a utopian illusion? (334-335) Illustration of the Babel dilemma came from China where huge diversity in the dialects made for mutual unintelligibility across the nation. Tong discussed Richards' promotion of Basic in China in the following terms:
Basic can attenuate daunting linguistic difficulties encountered by a foreigner, a Chinese in this case, in his or her experience of the original English text and can smooth his or her way into its world of ideas. At the same time, Basic provides the most economical ways to protect the purity of Western knowledge and to prevent it from being distorted when brought into China. (342-343)
Richards' high regard for Basic English was not without opposition. Firstly, Basic English was condemned for its claiming of linguistic universalism, which masked the imperialistic outlook with a claim of linguistic neutrality. Chen Yuan, a Chinese sociolinguist, was quick to point out the imperialistic overtones of the very label for the movement. Basic is an acronym for five English words: British, American, Scientific, International and Commercial (Tong, 338). Basic was assumed to be mastered easily by those whose native language was not English. Apart from the criticism that Basic was imperialistic in nature, it was condemned by some purists of the English language as a "cheaper form of English", in which its cultural essence was ignored and the language was used merely as a token of commerce. In the official correspondence, some committee members of the English Association appeared to take a purist perspective in its criticism of the "degradation" of the English language represented by Basic. It was felt to be unsuitable for educated Europeans, and at best of utility for Africans:
The offer of cheaper forms of English, such as Basic, will inevitably provoke reaction in favour of the study of the best literary English in the minds of the most educated foreign students. Already we find in Italy, Spain, and as I have just heard, in Brazil, "Basic" has been rejected by the students of the British Institutes as an inferior type of English that no Intelligent Student has any need to study as a step towards learning the best English. Basic may serve the African native who has no knowledge of a great European language, but I am convinced that most European students of secondary school standard will brush it aside with scorn, just because its purpose is to make our language easier, whereas each generally prides himself on being more intelligent than the average student.I6 (Harold Goad's letter to Boas, October, 1944)
The English Association upheld the status of British English as part of the national literary heritage and emphasis was placed on style rather than on practicality, with scientific writing coming under attack for its lack of elegance:
Then there is another menance to the English tongue, one which is generally overlooked because the whole of the public does not come up against it, and that is scientific English. The learned men who write scientific books are very wicked or very lazy. Their language is the most turgid, ugly, uncomfortable stuff that you can imagine. (Bridge, 1937: 464)
Arundell Esdaile, whose views of the study of English in the Comonwealth have been discussed earlier in the chapter, pointed out that English had been generally perceived merely as a useful vehicle for practical purposes by the academic circles on the Continent. They claimed that English was unworthy to form a subject for university study, other than as a branch of Teutonic Philology. The Association, however, emphasized the great canonical tradition of English literature as a manifestation of humanity, at least to the literate, and this supported Docker's argument for the anglocentric assumption that has been briefly mentioned earlier.
l6 BW 21369. English Association. A letter from Harold Goad to Boas, Chairman of the Developments Sub-committee, the Executive Committee of the English Association. The teaching and learning of English language and literature could be viewed in two ways: outside Britain, English language could be learnt merely for practical and commercial purposes within a colonial context, or, alternatively, English studies could involve the study of the culture of English language, in particular literary English. It should be stressed that the studies of English language and literature are not mutually exclusive as literary studies has often been regarded as a means to improve one's knowledge of English. However, Bhattacharyya observes that "a proficiency in the register of literary culture becomes a property of nationality" (1991 : 5). There seems to be an intrinsic conflict here between literary language as a property of nationhood and literary language as an advanced resource for the foreign learner. But to what extent could the study of English offered outside Britain be a manifestation of "nationalism"? The publications of the English Association demonstrated that English literature was viewed as a national discourse, in which historical and literary accounts of British culture aimed at creating a sense of national unity. A further dilemma was to decide who were eligible to be English teachers, in particular outside Britain?
English Teachers and Teachers of English
When discussing the authenticity and autonomy of English language teaching, Widdowson (1996: 67) points out that there is an opposition of points of view on this issue. One is that the language to be taught in the classroom should be as authentic as possible so as to represent the reality of the native-speaker usage. In this case, the English are the mother-tongue speakers and their culture is claimed to be the only authentic one, and some non-native English speakers also support this claim. The other view is that foreign learners, in particular those whose mother tongues are not English, should be as autonomous as possible, and be allowed to make the English language their own. Widdowson raises a very good question: Are these two ideas complementary or contradictory? This question arises historically out of the ambiguities of colonial education in English and the study of English in the British Empire. Who could legitimately teach English and spread the "spirit of England" to non-native learners? Perren (1963) offers his observation of the transplantation of English language and literature as a subject and the predominance of British personnel against the background of this colonial cultural-linguistic dilemma:
Literature was taught in Britain through a canon of "difficult" set books, and this tradition was exported overseas, via examination boards and British personnel: "British-trained teachers and inspectors have, often without question, assumed that what was believed right for Britain (especially anything concerned with the English language) would also be valuable overseas". (cited in Phillipson, 1992: 1 17)
As mentioned earlier, Docker (1978: 26-27) pointed out that the appointment of English, Americans and Australians as English teachers was preferred, so long as their primary interests lay in English literature. The English Association did not specify the ethnicity of the desirable type of English teachers. It aimed at assisting the preparation of teachers and professors to hold Chairs or be Readers of English at foreign universities. As Esdaile pointed out in the Chairman's Report of 1944, for example, the Association helped train those in the Commonwealth whose mother tongue was not English to be English teachers. In The Teaching of English through Literature (1953), Gardner discussed the qualities that teachers were expected to have and this Report could serve as a reference to the Association's expectations of qualified English teachers. Gardner believed that good English teaching can only be done by teachers who had immersed themselves in the life of English communities and had also been rigorously trained and tested by direct oral methods, and had retained an active enthusiasm for the English language and literature and had had at least a lively sympathetic interest in English life, thought and institutions (45). Having immersion in the life of English communities was believed to be more likely to pave the way for active enthusiasm for the English language and literature and interests in things English. A question might be raised: apart from the English people in England, who could likely have access to the life of English communities and develop enthusiasm for English culture? Gardner might have had a colonial situation in mind, in which the colonized could have access to the English community and culture through colonial upbringing and education. This suggests that colonial education and; if possible, further studies in England, would help the colonized to qualify as teachers of English language and literature, with the support and liaison of some institutions such as the English Association. Having non-native English speakers as English teachers was sometimes welcomed. From another perspective, their experience of learning English as non-native English speakers also helped them understand the difficulties faced by students of the use of a new language and its literary allusions. Having discussed the concern of the Association on the teaching of English in practice, this will help us substantiate our understanding of the English education in Hong Kong. It will also be useful to examine some theoretical issues in relation to the study of English language and literature, English nationalism and imperialism. A discussion of the terms "national" and "imperial7' is essential in understanding the nature of ideological power expansion. Both are hndamental to the imperial enterprise: extending one's national cultural and economic greatness to benefit the colonized and, in turn, expanding the Imperial power. Imperial expansion appears at its most morally repugnant when it involves exploitation in terms of slavery or forms of manual labour and servitude. The picture is more complex when we deal with so- called "colonial modernity", in cases where colonialism brought about economic prosperity and a better livelihood, for example, with the establishment of a social infrastructure such as hospitals, orphanages and schools for teaching the English language. While the English language and literary studies was clearly in one sense one of the "masks of conquest", the teaching and learning of English within colonial modernity offers a complex interpretative challenge, and this will be further illustrated with the case of HKU in Chapter 2.
English Nationalism in Literature and Linguistics
English literature was more straightforwardly associated with English nationalism than linguistics or philology. One reason is that English linguistics as philological studies took its lead from Continental Europe, in countries such as Denmark and Germany. The serious study of the roots of the English language, as a Germanic kind, was then exported back to England as an academic discipline. However, in the late nineteenth century there were ideological developments in which the common roots of the Germanic peoples were extolled, in particular cultural links between the United States, Britain and Germany. In Britain, this ideological direction was associated with figures like J. R. R. Tolkein. Whilst this was not a purely nationalistic trend, it did encourage linguistic purism and a sense that the English language was associated with a particular spirit of "Anglo-Saxon" freedom. Shakespeare, the greatest literary icon of Englishness, was also seen in Germany as the common cultural property of the Germanic peoples. In wartime, this collective identification broke down:
The English do not even want to be an Anglo-Saxon or Germanic people any more, but a newly refined cross-breed that does not like to be reminded of its Germanic cousins. Even their Shakespeare, who was German through and through, has been more than half rejected by them. In the seventeenth century they sought to turn him into a Frenchman, in the eighteenth century they tried to forget him, until the Germans (above all Lessing) restored him to his former honour and dug up the buried treasures. Only then did the sly Britons reclaim him as their own for their own advantages. (Stibbe, 200 1: 55, citing Lorenz Morsbach, Professor of English at the University of Gottingen, in an open letter addressed to the "philologists of Germany and Austria" in early September, 1914) English nationalism was a complex phenomenon, often defining itself against Celtic languages and cultures, yet also drawing on their authentic "Britishness", and with a fluctuating identification with other Germanic nations such as the United States and Germany. Literary studies has often been considered as a transcendence of the English language and an access to the English nationalistic culture while philology, the study of the root of a language, centres on the close analysis of individuated passages, words, or etymons. Its practice also reveals to its practitioners something about the literary text or social history and searches for the authentic literary voice in Anglo-Saxon literature (Lerer, 2002: 56-57). However, there have been debates about the Germanic Anglo-Saxon liaison of philological studies that rehted English nationalism:
To many who sought to free English literature from the shackles of philology the temptation to link the alleged deadening qualities of this discipline with 'Germanness' proved irresistible. Around the turn of the century, as political tensions rose between the United Kingdom and Germany, it became increasingly fashionable to suggest that philologists (and, by extension, anybody who allowed theoretical considerations into the study of English literary history) were less than patriotic. (Spiering, 1999: 131)
Spiering argued that as philology examined the linguistic blood-tie between the Germans and the Anglo-Saxons, Englishmen regarded it as an unpatriotic discourse. Anyone who took a theoretical approach to philological studies was regarded as "less than patriotic". Spiering later pointed out the typical discourse of English literary history: "In his monumental The Rise of English Literary Histoly [I9661 Wellek demonstrated that a non-theoretical, showing-rather-than-telling approach has been typical of English literary history right from the emergence of this genre in Elizabethan times" (1999: 134). Spiering Wher pointed out that "collectanea such as chronicles, catalogues, surveys, anthologies and literary biographies constituted 'the main traditions of literary-historical form in England"' (citing Wellek, 1966: 6). Though English literature was believed to record the national lustory, there were still debates over the true, native, source of English literature. Spiering stated "the idea that English literature is grafted onto the classics remained important in English literary history" (1999: 137). Basil Willey also commented on the centrality of Classics in the study of English. Willey, in a lecture entitled "The Q tradition", declared, "In so far as English is true to its aim, it must keep in touch with classical antiquityyy(Spiering, 1999: 137; citing Chainey, 1985: 214).17He even stressed that he
" Graham Chainey. A Literary History of Cambridge. Cambridge: Pevensey Press, 1985. 29 would never wish anyone to embark upon the study of English at Cambridge who did not have a thorough previous grounding in Classics.
Awakening of English Literary Studies at Universities
The discipline of English was acknowledged with the institutionalization of the subject in the late 1820s at University College and King's College, London; in Oxford in 1894 and Cambridge in 1911. According to Court (1992: 87), the English programme at University College was optional in 1827. In 1831, English was made part of the core curriculum at King's College, and it was combined with the study of history. The recognition of the subject as a national discourse came after the First World War when some core members of the English Association called attention to the national importance of the subject, which had once been overshadowed by Latin and Greek studies. The neglect of English was well-presented by Herford (1910: 14), who compared English literature to the "slighted Cinderella" in many great and progressive schools at that time, and highlighted the idea that English education, in the largest sense of the word, was the greatest need of England which should not be neglected. Fowler (1908: 1) also pointed out earlier that there was an awakening from the neglect of English literary studies in the early twentieth century. Though the Empire might not have the resources or a thorough plan to put its "ideal" - the teaching of English literature to a wider audience - into action, the rhetoric and perception of the Empire is significant in understanding the cultural relationship between the colonies and the Empire. The development of language teaching in the colonies should also be taken into consideration.
Conclusion
Literary studies has been portrayed as a welcoming national public discourse for all social classes in England. However, when English language and literature was studied in a colonial institution, it tended to be an elitist discourse which was introduced only to some university students, as in the case of Hong Kong. The subject appeared to be placed parallel with Latin and Greek studies which were mainly the exclusive privilege of Oxbridge students, and in this case, a small number of HKU students. English language also acquired a superior status in colonial institutions, as Greek and Latin maintained theirs in some ancient western universities. This points to one of the dilemmas of English literature as an imperial discourse: the transplantation of a literary subject from the imperial centre to the colonial periphery made the subject elitist instead of hlfilling the objective to make it accessible to all. Knowledge of the English language was important in colonial Hong Kong, but only a small proportion of people could afford to pay for the tertiary education before the government offered grants and loans for students with financial needs. In this respect, the missionary schools in Hong Kong played an important role in offering elementary English teaching for the less privileged. There were also some controversies about who have had the ownership of the English language and the authority to teach it, what kinds of textbooks should be used and how to teach the subject in the colonies and for what purposes. The following chapters of this thesis will take HKU and its English Department as a case study to examine the teaching of English literary studies, seemingly a British national discourse, in the colonial context. Chapter 2 University of Hong Kong and its Early English Education
Introduction
As an "imperial project", in Sir Frederick Lugard's term, the University of Hong Kong founded in 1911 was not at its inception planned to be a local institution serving the sole interests of Hong K~ng.'~The University had two main objectives: one seemingly grand in ambition was to train students for modernizing China; the other, more covert, was to serve the commercial and administrative interests of the British Empire. There are two directions that we could take to examine the gestation years of HKU and its language education. The first is to look at the role of the British colonial university as a "cultural project" which adopted the English language as the medium of instruction, in respect to the intellectual race of the western powers in setting up universities in China in the early twentieth century. The second is to examine the University's emphasis on English and Chinese language education, in relation to factors such as social demand and how students learnt the languages and evaluated them. It is important to examine the cultural implications of the language choice. This chapter will focus on language education at HKU and its influence in shaping the worldview and cultural outlook of students, with reference to the intertwining relationships among race, colonialism, imperialism and cultural nationalism in colonial Hong Kong. I will also look into some general issues concerning the University, including the staff expectations of the University and the ideal "student products".
HKU as a "Cultural Project"
One of the objectives of the University was to promote British traditions and ideas to students. When Lugard laid the Foundation Stone of the University in 1910, he regarded the setting up of HKU as "something higher than territorial conquest or national aggrandisement" and its graduates were expected to be "Missionaries of Empire" in China.IgAfter the First World War, the Americans had a strong influence in the Far Eastern region and the British were aware of the urgent need to consolidate
l8 The idea of HKU serving as a local university was only put into being since its reopening after the end of the Second World War. Even before the liberation of Hong Kong from the Japanese Occupation, the University and the Colonial Office were still considering whether the University was to be re- established as an instrument of British policy in China or an institution for the fulfillment of local needs. (BW901585. HKU Advisory Committee. The Memorandum entitled "The Future of Hong Kong University". Officers of the War Cabinet, 20" February, 1945) l9 Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: MiscelIaneous its economical power base. Sir William Hornell quoted The China Truth, published in Canton, which remarked that the Americans has set an excellent example of how trade could be effectively boosted through the agency of education:
Every returned Chinese student fiom the United States of America is a wallung advertisement of American goods, American machinery, and [. ..] this product of American schools and universities bubbles with Americanism in his speech, his ways, and his morals: "From a speculative point of view the Americans have done themselves fine" (Hornell, 1929: 774).
This statement could be read as the desire of some British to promote Britishness or at least to set up its economic base in China with the help of the graduates of KKU, following the footsteps of America. After the Second World War in 1946, Fletcher wrote to A. Creech Jones, the Under Secretary of State of the Colonial Office, that the ideological rivalry of America and Britain needed urgent attention: "We do not want the British way of life, the knowledge of our past and above all of our literature, to disappear completely and be replaced by the American or any other ideology." Tsing Hua College in Peking, for example, was founded with the American Boxer Indemnity and its students and those returned from universities in America were regarded as products of Ameri~anism.~~ The hnding of HKU was a problematic issue from the British point of view. Dr. Bateson Wright, the principal of Queen's College, who tried his hand at assessing the capital and recurrent funds required for the University, declared that he was "appalled at the notion that the British Empire, whose funds were inadequate to provide for the starving population at home, should undertake the enormous expense of educating the sons of an alien empire [...I fiom the pockets of the Hong Kong ratepayers". He asked: "Why should not China be permitted and even encouraged to provide her own Universities" (cited in Mellor, 1992: 40). The British officials regarded the University project as a potential burden to the British and the Hong Kong taxpayers, but the University was not actually funded by the British Government. The colonial government in Hong Kong hoped that the British traditions could be rooted in Hong Kong at the lowest cost. Looking back, Sir Lindsay Ride, the Vice-Chancellor of HKU (1949-1963), accounted for the British lack of higher educational policies for the colonies and dominions.
[. ..] the general plan of Higher Education that has been adopted for all the Colonies;
Documents, 1908-1913. s. 1.: s. n. 20 CO 10451470. Walter Fletcher. A copy of letter to A. Creech Jones. Dated 3 1" January 1946. briefly it is that, since neither Great Britain nor the Dominions can be expected to pay for the Higher Education of people in the Colonies, - they have not the necessary accomodation available even if they could afford to do so, - each Colony should set up and ultimately be fully responsible for its own system of Higher Education [. ..] owing to the foresight of men like Lugard, Mody and Chater, we are well ahead of most other Colonies, for we achieved the full University status 45 years ago. (1956: 2)
HKU could be regarded as a colonial project initiated by Lugard, the Governor, but it was not a well-funded bbproject"with a master plan. While Hong Kong was set up as a trading port colony, its educational and cultural development was at times neglected or was called upon merely as producing English-speaking Chinese as compradores for the purpose of trading.
A Distinct "British" Secular University in China
The early twentieth century marked the intellectual scramble for concessions in China when knowledge was perceived as a means to dominate or modernize weaker nations. Universities were set up in China, adopting the German, French, American and British models. Hayhoe's China's Universities 1895-1995: A Century of Cultural Conflict (1999) provides an overview of hgher educational development in China around the time when HKU was founded. She gives a critical historical account of the limited intellectual influence of the British in China by illustrating the contribution of Timothy Richard, a Baptist missionary, in founding Shanxi Imperial University and evaluating briefly the role of HKU in China.
The British were by far the most important colonial power in terms of economic involvement in Chinese development, from the time of the Opium Wars. Yet it is strihng how limited was British influence on Chinese education, especially at the tertiary level. This can be explained fairly simply in terms of the character of British missionary endeavor in China. Few British missionaries were themselves university educated, in contrast to their Arnercian fellows, and the evangelical wing, intent on grass-roots evangelization, tended to dominate. The most interesting English figure in terms of higher education was the Baptist missionary, Timothy Richards [sic. Richard], whose involvement with Chinese intellectual circles in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries resulted in the founding of Shanxi University in 1901. It used British Boxer indemnity funds and had a definite British imprint. What is fascinating about this institution is the smooth way in which it became sinicized, with most traces of British influence disappearing by the 1920s. The question of how far the first statues for modern higher education, issued by imperial edicts of 1902 and 1903, were influenced by this model remains one yet to be researched. Apart from this, the only university in China that could be linked to British colonialism was the University of Hong Kong, and its influence in mainland China was to be minimal. (1 8-19)
The lagging behind of the British in the institutional race prompts further consideration of the universities' affiliation with the Empire. What were the characteristics of a "British" university'? Hayhoe introduced two "British" universities that were diverse in ideology and geography. Shanxi University, founded by the Baptist missionaries, was regarded as having a "definite British imprint" but was rapidly sinicized in the early years of its development. Hayhoe does not discuss HKU in depth, apart from mentioning its minimal influence in China as a colonial secular institution. These two universities offer a useful contrast, both geographical and ideological, when we look at the kinds of educational institution the British founded in China. The diverse natures of HKU and Shanxi Imperial University led Lugard to compare his University Scheme with the one in Shanxi, a comparison which justified his assertion that HKU would be unique in the Far East (see discussion below). While it was true that British influence in higher education in China was quite limited when compared to the American missionary efforts, HKU was the only institution in China, geographically, that had a direct affiliation with a European power on the basis of colonialism. Against a background in which missionary universities and institutions funded by the Boxer Indemnity Fund were being set up to provide western education for Chinese youth, Lugard proposed in 1909 to set up a university in Hong Kong, under the heading: the Hongkong University Scheme (Hongkong S~heme).~'The Hongkong Scheme was a rival to other college and university schemes in China, mainly in tenns of finance and popularity among potential students. One of the rivals of the Hongkong Scheme was the Scheme of the "China Emergency Committee" (Emergency Committee Scheme), under which Lord William Gascoyne-Cecil (1863- 1936), the Right Reverend Bishop of Oxford and Rector of Hatfield, proposed to set up a semi- Christian university in Wuchang (Hankow). In a memo written by Lugard in 1909, a comparison was drawn between the two schemes that showed how Lugard perceived the distinctiveness of HKU as a "British" university in China. In a Manuscript Minute drafted by Lugard to Sir Francis Henry May dated 7thMay, 1909,'2 Lugard recognized the rivalry, noting that the Hongkong Scheme was then in the field against the Emergency Committee Scheme, and that it might be useful to point out the advantages of the former over the latter, and the weaknesses of the latter. The strength
F. D. Lugard. Memorandum. The Hongkong University Scheme and the Scheme of the "China Emergency Committee". 7fi May, 1909. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. s. 1.: s. n. 22 Manuscript Minute from Lugard to May, dated 7th May, 1909. Subject: Granting of Degrees. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: MisceIlaneous Documents, 1908-1913. s. 1.: s. n. Sir Francis Henry May was later the Governor of Hong Kong (1912- 1918), succeeding Lugard. of HKU would be that its predominant tone was said to be British, founded in a British colony and was yet geographically located in China:
Hongkong as a foreign Colony has inherent advantages over any University which can be established in China [. . .] In a British Colony too students obtain opportunities for studying colloquial English and acquiring something of a western atmosphere, though still in touch with their own people, which would not be afforded by an institution in China or even in ~a~an.~~
English was to be the medium of instruction for all courses at HKU, except for the courses on Chinese language and literature. The archival materials show that some university administrators like Lugard at times boasted of the distinctiveness of HKU as a "British" university, highlighting that "the University will issue no degrees, which are not up to an English Standard.. .".24 One of the guarantees for that was the University, adopting the British curriculum, used English as the medium of instruction. Another attraction was that the Chinese youth did not have to leave their homes for studies overseas, thus avoiding the paying of expensive tuition and boarding fees and the risk that they would undergo "denationalization". The idea that Chinese students could obtain a complete British education without leaving China was one of the strong selling points of HKU. According to the Educational Directory of China (1 9 16), HKU was "providing its numerous undergraduates with an education in every way similar to that obtainable in the universities of London, Birmingham or other centres in England" (41). This was also an attractive option to the Chinese students in the Straits, as they did not have to travel away from home in order to receive higher education of a British standard. Many Chinese parents also supported the idea of having a university in Hong Kong as the expense of sending their children abroad was high and they also womed that their children would become alienated from their cultwal roots and go astray if they left home for a long time. In a manuscript letter dated 20" January, 1909, written to the Governor General of Canton, requesting for the Chinese Government's support for HKU, Lugard expressed the concerns of some Chinese parents who planned to send their children to attend universities overseas:
[Chinese students] would study here among their own race and not become
23 Pamphlet. Hongkong University: Objects, Histoly, Present Position and Prospects, collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. s. 1.: s. n. 24 Memorandum. By His Excellency the Governor Frederick Lugard. 31d August, 1908. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908- 1913. s. 1.: s. n. denationalised, and separated for long years from their families - returning perhaps with revolutionary ideas, and having lost their pride in their nation and their patriotism.25
Lugard was concerned with the revolutionary ideas the Chinese students might acquire when doing their studies in Japan, and clearly believed that the Governor of Canton would be receptive to his justifications for the University. The setting up of HKU was a positive feature for both the colonial and Chinese Governments, as the Chinese youth would be confined to Hong Kong and not be exposed to the ideological influences of other western powers. Moreover, HKU was intended to be one of the most important secular centres of learning in China, together with the Government University of Peking and Pei Yang University, Tientsin. Along with St. John's University in Shanghai and the Government University of Peking, HKU was one of the only three that were qualified to be called western learning institutions.16Some archival materials also show that the University administrators were conscious of the involvement of HKU in the intellectual rivalry in Chna. Their correspondence suggests insecurity in relation to this rivalry. They hoped to be assured that the University would not fall behind in the institutional rivalry and could contribute to the development of higher education in China. Overseeing the transnational rivalry in the setting up of universities in China, Lugard showed enthusiasm for and confidence in his University Scheme, which was described as his "pet lamb" and "university fad" during his days in Hong Kong as Governor (Mellor, 1992: 134). He was very proud of HKU and said that "Chinese will no doubt have universities of her own, but we are the first in the field" (cited in Mellor, 1992: 175). Lugard did not elaborate on this, but he might have meant, obviously, the University would be the first one in this British Colony. Most significantly, its educational and administrative direction would be different and pioneering compared with other established universities in China, owing to the fact that it was founded in Hong Kong. Lugard urged that HKU become "the first in the field" in China, as the country was facing an intellectual scramble for concessions by other European powers. The fact that their national languages were taught in China was seen as helping consolidate their power base and cultural influence. Similar kinds of competitive discourse recurred in Lugard's speeches.
25 Lugard to Governor General, Canton. Subject: Requesting Chinese Government's support. Dated 20' January, 1909. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. s. 1.: s. n. 26 Educational Directory of China. (1916: 39) In 1908, while Lugard was giving a speech in the ceremony of St. Stephen's College, he said, "I believe myself in the awakening of China and in the opportunities for reciprocal benefits which that awakening will give to us and I believe that we must either now take those opportunities or leave them for others to take" (cited in Mellor, 1992: 55-56). On 12'~January, 1909, he again expressed the worry that his University Scheme was lagging behind other western universities in China: "Germany and France have both seen the advantage of establishing a university, and I am anxious that we should not awake from our traditional apathy too late and find ourselves already forestalled" (cited in Mellor, 1992: 72). Time, as in any race, is a key to determine who the winner is. The rivalry here was mainly in monetary terms as the universities of different nationalities competed for support and subscriptions. Efforts had to be made on how to present the institutions appealingly to the donors. Lugard's letter to Lord Elgin in 1909 shows again how competitive and nation-wide the institutional rivalry was as he again urged that the British should not be left out in asserting influence over China:
The Germans have just voted £30,000 for building a High School for Chinese which is to be an Embryo University at Kiow Chao and their Government promises £7,500 p.a. in addition to this capital sum. The French are doing much the same, I believe, in Saigon, and they started a University long ago at Chentu. The Americans also speak of starting a University. I trust we shall not alone remain inactive. I regard it as of the highest importance both to our prestige and to our trade. I believe that the extension of the English language in the Far East will materially promote both, and that it is not improbable that King's English may become the medium of politics and commerce in China. The moment is auspicious (spite of the temporary depression in trade) for China is now eagerly adopting every means of acquiring western laowledge. (my emphasis)27
Lugard realized the potential for the promotion of the English language in China, particularly in the domain of trade and understood that Chinese society was receptive to western learning, but he feared that Britain would be left behind as Japan and other western powers grew in influence and military power. Competition and rivalry was a recurrent theme in the university documents. In a manuscript letter written by Sir Honnusjee N. Mody, a "Parsi gentleman - 50 years resident in Hong Kong"," to Alfied Herbert Remieig on lgth February, 1908, he
27 Manuscript draft letter. Lugard to Lord Elgin on the subject of inviting support and subscriptions. c. January, 1909. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. s. 1.: s. n. 28 Mody died in 1911 before the official opening of HKU. The information about Mody could be seen from the Foundation Stone of the University of Hong Kong, located on the Ground Floor of the Main Building, HKU. According to Mr. Donald Tsang Yum Kuen's speech (the former Financial Secretary of HKU) delivered at the luncheon of the Council of Hong Kong Indian Associations and the Indian Chamber of Commerce on 9" February, 2000, Mody opened Hong Kong7sfirst and largest fm to deal expressed the urgent need for the British to catch up with the Germans in spreading their own national language in China: "I saw in yesterday's paper that the Germans are thinking of teaching their language in a University in Kiauchau, why cannot we get ahead of them."30 "Why cannot we get ahead of them?" The tone of Mody, a generous donor of the University, was casual, as if the idea of setting up a university was like a sporting contest. For Mody, the University Scheme seemed feasible as long as the endowment hding was available. He did not elaborate on how and why the teaching of German in China should be a catalyst for the speedy establishment of the University at Hong Kong. Some members of the medical profession connected with China, who advocated a medical faculty for HKU, however, addressed the importance of spreading the English language in China in a pamphlet report of the "China Mail" in 1909:
From a British point of view the question becomes one of Imperial importance, for the language of the nation by which instruction is conveyed gives to that nation a position and creates an affiliation between the peoples deeper rooted that afforded by either political groupings or mutual commercial benefik3'
Governor Lugard held similar views on the practical and ideological importance of the English language in China with the proponent of the rival China Emergency Scheme. He also addressed himself to an audience in England in 1908, firstly to justify the setting up of HKU in the British Colony and secondly, to appeal for their financial support:
Already in the Far East, France and especially Germany are taking steps to promote the study of their own languages, and to supply the demand for Western Education. If British interests both commercial and political are to be maintained in the face of the friendly rivalry of other nations, it is essential that the predominance of the English language should be ~nchallenged.~~
with stock exchange and share brokerage with Paul Chater.
It is not, in my view, to establish a University on lines which might equally well be adopted in Canton, where Students could be taught in Chinese and be entirely dissociated from British influences. On the contrary we desire to promote a closer understanding of the two races, and this can best be done by the acquisition of the English language. We believe that language is the best medium for imparting Western knowledge, and that by acquiring a fluency in it Students will best fit themselves for success in after life whether they adopt a profession or become officials in the service of their country at the Capitals or abroad. Nor must it be forgotten in this connection that if Chinese were adopted as a medium, it would not only be found most difficult if not impossible to express Western technical terms and instruction in it, but also it would not serve as a medium for Chinese from different parts of China. Students from different provinces would require separate interpreters. In order, however, that Chinese Students may benefit to the fullest extent, I have said that in my opinion a small staff of assistant teachers should be engaged to explain lectures and to enable the Chinese to obtain an explanation of any matter they did not hlly understand.33
Lugard suggested that British influence could only be asserted when the English language was adopted as the medium of instruction in Hong Kong. He believed that a
33 Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. s. 1.: s. n. wider circulation of the language would help the British gain more recognition in both the political and financial sectors in the Far East. English was the best medium for promoting mutual understanding between the two races. Lugard stressed the importance of mutual understanding, but it was obviously to be on the West's terms and in a western language. Lugard used the superlative "best" to signal that English was preferable to the Chinese language, considering that English would be more widely and appropriately used in imparting Western knowledge. He did not deny the value and importance of the Chinese language, but there were overriding factors that made English a more promising candidate as the medium of instruction at HKU.One sound reason was that English, rather than Cantonese was ironically a common language among the Chinese students who came fi-om Hong Kong, China and the Straits Settlements. Besides, there might be a substantial proportion of Europeans and Eurasians enrolled in the university who did not know how to speak Cantonese or read and write Chinese. All these factors convinced Lugard that the English language could play a major role at the University, and that the choice of English would distinguish HKU fi-om its counterparts in China, in that it would serve as a unifying force for the student body. British values and systems could then be introduced more easily and justifiably in colonial Hong Kong than in any parts of China. This "Britishness" and its secular nature would mark out the University from its western competitors in China, such as the Emergency Committee Scheme, Canton Provincial College and Shanxi Imperial University.
Emergency Committee Scheme vs. Hongkong Scheme
Lord Cecil's Emergency Cornrnittee Scheme34was Chnstian in nature and was supported by the Committee of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in proposing a semi-secular university in Wuchang. It was regarded as a rival scheme to Governor Lugard's Hongkong Scheme. The common objective of the two schemes was to bring western civilization to the Chinese people, in particular science and medicine, and a humanistic ideal for moral improvement and cultural enlightenment. Their differences were that in the Hongkong Scheme, the University would be a
34 "United Universities Scheme" or the Oxford and Cambridge Scheme. These terms are used to refer to the Emergency Committee Scheme in Cunich's book chapter "Godliness and Good Learning: the British Missionary Societies and HKU". An Impossible Dream: Hong Kong University from Foundation To Re-Establishment, 1910-1950. Eds. Chan Lau Kit Ching and Peter Cunich. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.39-64. secular one rooted in a British colony, under strong British influence with its standard, traditions and ideals. In comparison, the Emergency Committee Scheme was also proposed by British personnel and supported by Oxford and Cambridge universities, but it welcomed the co-operation of other western missionaries such as Americans, Italians and the French. It appeared to have some transnational standing and this gave it a more inclusive, universalist ethos: "If we can unite in the founding of such a University, we shall show that though we see the Chnstian truth in different aspects we have agreed that truth is one, and have in spite of our diversions a fundamental unity7' (Gascoyne-Cecil, 1911 : 3 11). More significantly, the spreading of the Gospel could well justify the setting up of another Christian university in China, when missionary works started to gain some popularity among the Chinese. Although the Emergency Committee Scheme was not carried out in the end, probably owing to the lukewarm response fiom the Church Missionary Society (Cunich, 2002: 41), Lord Cecil's proposal for this semi-religious university, conceived of as a kind of "Oxbridge in Chinay', offered a usehl comparison to the secular founding principles of the "utilitarian" university in Hong Kong. As Lugard pointed out on 12~~January, 1909, practical utility of the curriculum was the prior objective of HKU to ensure that the graduates had promising career prospects:
[The] aim of the University should be to afford an education adapted to the careers which its Graduates intend to adopt - a sound practical secular education. We have seen in India and elsewhere the harm which is done by a system of higher education not based on such principles, which has in fact produced a class of young men of high intellectual attainments but without corresponding development of character, men for whom there are no adequate openings and careers in life. The same has happened in Africa. (cited in Mellor, 1992: 72)
Standing out as a British colonial university in the Far East, HKU was not expected to be just another tertiary institution in China. Lugard, in the conclusion of his memorandum, stressed that the Chinese Government would back up the future university at Hong Kong financially, which might not be the case for the university at Wuchang :
In conclusion I would desire to urge very strongly the advisability of concentrating effort upon one scheme, and ensuring success for that one, instead of running a risk of failure by placing two rival schemes before the somewhat limited public who are interested. I submit that China is well able to establish Universities within her own Empire, of such a kind as her Government approves, and that ifher Government does not approve entirely of the nature of a University inaugurated by Foreigners, it is unlikely to succeed. Has Lord Wm. Cecil obtained satisfactory assurances that the University he proposes meets with the entire support of the Chinese Government, and of our Minister at Peking? - The Hongkong scheme on the other hand is very warmly supported by the Viceroy of Canton, and I have reason to know by the Peking authorities and by our Minister. - I submit that those, who are ready to afford financial support to one or the other, would be well advised to support the one which is to be established in a British Colony, under British auspices. And as a corollary I would strongly urge the amalgamation of the two schemes, and I trust that I have shewn in the foregoing notes that the essential objects which the "China Emergency Committee" have in view, will be obtained by the Hongkong University. (Lugard, 1909: 6; my emphasis)
The rivalry between the two university schemes was expressed in monetary terms, and the Chinese community was a promising source for the endowment fund for HKU. Though the Hongkong Scheme and the China Emergency Scheme shared a desire to bring western modernization to the Chinese, their labelling or construction of themselves was very different. Both claimed to be established primarily for the interest of China, but one was to be a colonial university and the other one of the semi-missionary and missionary universities in China.
"Strength" of Hongkong Scheme
Predominance of British Staff and Sports
In relation to the appointment of University professors or teachers, the Emergency Committee Scheme specified that applicants for these posts must be men of strong Christian principles, and with keen sympathy with missionary ideals (Lugard, 1909: 3). However, applicants were not required to subscribe to any definite formula of Christian belief or any particular branch of Protestantism or to Catholicism. In contrast, the Hongkong Scheme stressed that professors would be selected for high technical qualifications and not for their religious views. The Hongkong Scheme Memorandum, which was for private circulation only at that time, was a significant document because it also demonstrated Lugard's belief that educated British gentlemen could be trusted to have a high standard of morals, and this would be further safeguarded by the University Council (1909: 3). This suggested that the British staff members were expected to have the Victorian virtues such as integrity and courage, even without the binding force of Christianity. The advertisement for the appointment of a Lecturer and Tutor in English in 1927 even stressed that candidates must not be connected with any missionary societies, without giving any explanation^^^ (see below). One reason might be that the founders of the University
35 CO 1291511, ff 1-3 pp 1-118 [from: 1928-04-28 to: 1928-09-061 Document: 51114 Enclosure 4: copy 43 did not want the classroom to be turned into a missionary base and the students' education directed towards evangelical ends. The University planners were particularly cautious about the introduction of western religious beliefs, like Christianity, to the Chinese, in view of their long tradition of ancestral rites and developed textual tradition and literati culture. British moral ideals were, however, in some ways seen as echoes of the Chinese moral codes. This would make the teaching of the English culture and values appealing to the students in Hong Kong. Lugard, in a memorandum submitted to the Universities China Committee on HKU in 1931, commented that the British moral ideals and beliefs were more appealing to the Chinese than those of the radical A~nericans.~~ After leaving Hong Kong for nearly twenty years, Lugard was still very concerned with the development of the University. The British tradition, he thought, was a counterpoise against American influence of revolt and materialism over the Chinese. The "moral type" of the Victorian Englishmen was celebrated in the colonial university and this in some way justified the colonial superiority of the British in the form of the "English gentleman" and the secularity of the University. Concerning the appointment of teaching staff, Lugard proposed that the University should have a high proportion of European, i.e. British, staff The University could appoint Chinese professors who were capable of teaching for a degree standard: "There would probably be no objection to them on account of race so long as the predominant tone of the University is British". Though the issue of race was touched upon only in passing, race was an important element in staff appointment, especially to have British staff in taking up the senior posts. Chinese teachers might have a place in the University Scheme, but the professorial Staff in Hong Kong would be British, with staff appointments under the control of the University Council (Lugard, 1909: 3-
4). 37 AS for the Emergency Committee Scheme, European and American staff members were also preferred and Christian faith was considered criteria1 for appointment: "For the present the staff would consist entirely of Europeans and Americans, but it is both probable and desirable that later on among the Professors should be some Chinese [,I being, of course, Christians and men of known ability" of a report on appointment of a lecturer and tutor in English by the University of Hong Kong. 36 CO 1291531. Lord Frederick Lugard. Copy of memorandum submitted to the Universities China Committee on HKU, September, 1931. 37 As stated in the Section 1 of the Statue 11 of the University Ordinance (1911), the member composition of the Council includes the Vice-Chancellor (Chairman), the Treasurer, the Director of Education, the Deans of the Faculties of Medicine, Science, and Arts, five members appointed by the Chancellor, three members (not being officers or teachers of the University) elected by the Court and three members elected by the Senate. (Lugard, 1909: 4). Both schemes had a stronger preference for staff coming fiom Europe and America. In the case of HKU, the British had the first priority in appointment, particularly in occupying the Professorial posts. The preference for British staff was in order to create a British atmosphere or predominant tone at the University, which in practice meant that the English language would be the medium of instruction in all courses except Chinese language and literature. Lugard stated clearly that the Hongkong Scheme reflected the view that Western education could only be properly imparted in a Western language, best represented by teaching in English carried out by British staff (1 909: 3). By contrast, he pointed out, the Emergency Committee Scheme would adopt Chinese as the vehicle of instruction, though that Committee did not give any clear directions, including what kind of Chinese was to be used. Lugard believed this to be a "strange omission" on such a crucial point. He inferred this from the fact that the Committee stated that the western Professors were to reside in China for three years to acquire the language, presumably Chinese, before taking up their duties, that the Chinese professors may later replace the Europeans and so on (1909: 3). This shows that the Chinese language and the Chinese staff members would play dominant roles in the proposed university at Wuchang. At the Congress of all the universities of the British Empire held in 1912:~ Lugard re-addressed the distinct "Britishness" of his university project:
In the Hong Kong University the Staff will be wholly British except perhaps in regard to a few specialists in Chinese language and literature, and I may add that of late special efforts have also been made to raise the proportion of British teachers (both in relation to Chinese teachers and to the number of pupils) in both Government and Grant-in-aid schools throughout the Colony. (cited in Mellor, 1992: 174)
As noted, in spite of its British character, HKU could appoint Chinese professors who were capable of teaching to a degree standard: "There would probably be no objection to them on account of race so long as the predominant tone of the University is British" (Lugard, 1909: 4). This conception of the University survived into the post- war era. Zn a letter to Sir T. Lloyd, regarding financial assistance towards the re- establishment of HKU in 1947, the University stated the need to keep HKU staffed predominantly by British teachers: "A single faculty in the hands of a British Professor is regarded by the British Council as of great value in foreign universities; a
38 According to Mellor (1992: 171), the Universities Bureau of the British Empire was first incorporated in 1919. It then fimctions under the name of the Association of Commonwealth Universities. whole university would be so much more so". It was an effective way "to spread British influence and appreciation of the British way of political One particularly interesting public record is concerned with the appointment of a lecturer and tutor in English as advertised in 1927-28, in which criteria for selecting suitable candidates were laid
A Lecturer and Tutor in English is required for the University of Hong Kong, to commence duty on 15~September next. Candidates must be unmarried, laymen and not connected with any missionary society and they should not be more than 30 years old. They must be graduates, preferably in honours and with experience of teaching, especially of English. Ability to play games, particularly cricket, and willingness to associate with the students in their games, is desirable.
The Lecturer will be required to give explanatory lectures of English books and to give tutorial instruction in the English language. Many students on joining the University have a poor knowledge of English, and the Lecturer will be required to give these students individual instruction of an intensive nature.
In the notice of the "General Conditions of Ser~ice",~'the University suggested that unmarried applicants were expected so that no passages for a wife or children would in any case be paid either for the voyage out. Also, bachelor quarters would generally be available and any house allowance would be at the rate proper for a bachelor. The preference for young unmarried graduates would help reduce the expense of the University. The University's arrangement for replacing staff members who were on long leave further showed its measure to reduce expense:
Owing to the difficulty of replacing members of the staff absent on long leave, members of the staff in service are required to assist in any reasonable way in carrying on the teaching work of the University, and may in this connection be required fkom time to time to deliver lectures on subjects of which they have a sufficient knowledge but which are outside the work for which they are primarily engaged. It is a rule of the University that for such additional work no special payment is made.
According to the Report of the Faculty of Arts of 1928, for example, Sir William Hornell, the Vice-Chancellor, took over the French classes for a year, which were usually conducted by a member of the English Department. This was done to relieve the Department when one of the staff was in hospital. In 1930, the Union Magazine (July, Vol. VI, No. 3) reported that Hornell lectured on English Literature in the Arts Faculty, in addition to his administrative duties.
39 FO 371/65653 40 CO 1291'51 114. HKU: Appointment of a lecturer and tutor in English. See Appendix 2 for the advertisement. 4' CO 129/511 The University and Government House were involved in the appointment of English lecturers and tutors and those of other departments."' Government House requested the Board of Education in London to advertise particulars of the vacancies and to recommend candidates. The applicants who desired educational employment in the Colonies were asked to consult The Dominions and Colonial Ofice List, which offered a general account of Hong Kong, and to fill in an application form. In 1928, Arthur Christopher Braine-Hartnell, an Oxford graduate in English Language and Literature, was appointed for the post with Sir Michael Sadler as his referee." One of the columns of the application form concerning "Athletics" is particularly interesting. When asked about the applicant's experience in organizing games and proficiency in athletics, Braine-Hartnell wrote, "I am fond of all games, especially tennis". Whether the teaching staff could play cricket and get involved in students7 sports activities became one of the criteria in securing an employment at the University. Application for the post of lecturers and tutors did not only take account of academic qualification, but enthusiasm for group sports activities. Why did the vacancy advertisement highlight that the ability to play cricket was preferable? A citation &om Appadurai (1996: 91) gives some suggestions:
It is no exaggeration to suggest that cricket came closer than any other public form to distilling, constituting, and communicating the values of the Victorian upper class in England to English gentlemen as part of their embodied practices, and to others as a means of apprehending the class codes of the period [...I In the second half of the nineteenth century, when cricket acquired much of its modem morphology, it also took shape as the most powerful condensation of Victorian elite values.
The HKU Cricket Club was founded in November, 1912 (Hall, 1999: 151). At this colonial university, the sports ground was seen as another setting for the teaching staff and students to know more about each other. Cricket developed as a popular game in many British colonies, in particular India. In Hong Kong, it never acquired any substantial following among the Chinese population, and its players were mostly expatriates, Eurasians and Indians who learned to play cricket when they were in boys' schools such as Ellis Kadoorie School, St. Joseph's College, Queen's College and Diocesan Boys' School (Hall, 1999: 151). Middle-class students from the Straits
42 CO 10451475. In a report "University of Hong Kong - Present Position", dated 20" July, 1949, Duncan Sloss mentioned that the Association of Universities of the British Commonwealth also helped in the appointments of chairs and lecturers at HKU. 43 Some materials are collected concerning Braine-Hartnell. These include his application form for the post of HKU English lecturer, the obituary announced by the University College, Oxford, his publications about a translation of Pali poems and his contribution to the HKU Students' Union Union Magazine. See Appendix 3. Settlements, Malay States and Shanghai also took part in cricket games as well since they were practically all accustomed to western habits (Hornell, 1925: 32). It seems unlikely that the game formed part of a shared culture among the students and staff as a whole, considering that there were some students from poorer family backgrounds and those fiom Mainland with scholarships might not have had exposure to this game before. The emphasis on sports led to criticisms that the University was "too Western in its habits and outlook, that too much importance is attached to athletics and to games which were alien to the Chinese student tradition" (Hornell, 1925: 31). Hornell, however, pointed out that
HKU was a British institution, established with the very definite object of providing in Hong Kong what students would otherwise have to go abroad to get. That such an institution should have encouraged British games was inevitable [. . .I A student plays or not, as he feels inclined. Even the most important cricket and other matches excite little general interest in the University as a whole. (1925: 32)
Lai Tim Cheong (BA 1942; MA 1957), the son of a Hanlin Chinese scholar Lai Chai Hay, was a tutor in the English Department from 1956-58. He pointed out that cricket was not very popular among local students as they did not have such traditions.* Patrick Yu (BA 1942) said he did not play cricket in his days at HKU. He played soccer with the junior lecturers.45It appears that cricket remained a British sport for the British staff and a minority of students, and this helped to cultivate a sense of "Britishness" at the University.
English as the Medium of Instruction
While HKU administrators were proud of its English-medium education, the University was constantly compared with other higher educational institutions in China to foresee any potential threat against it. The archival materials show that comparison has been made with Canton Provincial College and Shanxi Imperial University. There has not been much research done on the founding of Canton Provincial College (Kao Teng Hsuoh Tang [Higher Education Institution]). According to a memorandum on the College written by Harry Fox, the Commissioner General of Canton, "the present Provincial College at Canton replaces the former Kuang Ya Hsuoh Tang founded some 10 years ago by Chang Chih Tung at that time Viceroy of
Telephone conversation with Mr. Lai Tim Cheong. 20" March, 2002. 45 Interview with Mr. Patrick Yu. 22"d June, 2002. the Liang K~ang".~~This College should not be confused with Canton Christian College, an American Presbyterian institution which later became Lingnan University, and subsequently the present Sun Yat Sen University. Fox's letter to Lugard, dated gth September, 1909, suggested that the College did not have any English staff and Fox expressed ks view that Canton College was not likely to threaten the status of HKU in the near future.47Even so, Lugard and the imperial administrators were very concerned about any potential threats towards the university in Hong Kong, even before it was officially opened in 19 12:
I do not think the Canton College is likely to prove a serious rival to the Hongkong University for some time to come, that is to say for as long as the Chinese educational authorities persist in their shortsighted policy of employing inexperienced and often incompetent young Chinese professors to give insmction in Western languages and science, and in the cases where they employ foreigners, paying inadequate salaries to inferior men. Equipped with a competent foreign teaching staff the Canton College might be a serious rival to Hong Kong institution, supported as it would be by the Chinese Government [. . .I. (A letter from Fox to Lugard, gfi September, 1908)
In Fox's view, the College did not have the agenda to expand western learning thoroughly. He criticized the College for its "short-sighted policy" of employing inexperienced Chinese professors to teach in English, who might not be competent to transfer knowledge in a foreign language. Besides, the western lecturers were treated like "inferior men" and they did not receive decent salaries to support their lives in China. Fox's letter made clear that HKU would be more attractive than Canton Provincial College as it would employ qualified expatriates to give instruction in English, so Fox did not foresee any threat to HKU. He thought that the fact that Canton College did not plan to appoint foreign teaching staff with attractive salaries suggesting some anti-imperial feelings, or that it did not even have the financial support from the Government when China was in a period of political instability and warlordism. On the contrary, as proposed by Lugard, the distinctiveness of HKU was that its proportion of British staff was very high. Records show that the British staff members were well-paid in Hong Kong and the University at times in its history had to consider how to balance the salary payment to the local and non-Chinese staff
46 Manuscript. Memorandum on the Kao Teng Hsuoh Tang or Provincial College at Canton. Subject: Memo on Canton Provincial College. By Harry Fox. Dated 9" September, 1908. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: MisceIIaneous Documents, 1908-1913. 47 Manuscript letter. Commissioner General, Canton to Lugard. Dated 9h September, 1908. Subject: Canton Provincial College. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. members in order not to appear to be practising favouritism towards the non- Chine~e.~~ Shanxi Imperial University was set up in 1900 as a by-product of the Boxer Indemnity compensation from the Provincial Government. In preference to other uses for the funds, Dr. Timothy Richard of the English Baptist Mission proposed the founding of a university. The plan was that a university of western learning should be established in Tai Yuan Fu, the capital city of Shanxi, based on co-operation between the provincial authorities and the missionary societies (Couling, 1917: 509). The literati of the Province hoped to secure a liberal education on modern lines with the University. The missionaries administered the University in its first ten years and the Provincial Government then took over responsibility for it." This is what Hayhoe described as a kind of progressive sinicization (1999: 19). A comparison of Shanxi Imperial University and the colonial university at Hong Kong shows that they made different choices on the medium of instruction. According to the Calendar of Imperial University of Shanxi (Western Department), China (1 9 1O), Shanxi Imperial University adopted the "medium of the students' own language" for instruction, and not English, a "foreign tongue":
As at the outset, there were no students in Shansi [alternate spelling of Shanxi] acquainted with any other language but their own, the aim of this College has been to commence with students already possessing the Government degrees [. . .I with trained minds and tested ability, and teach them through the medium of their own language without waiting till they had mastered a foreign tongue. Therefore, though all students take the English language as a subject, all other branches are taught in Chinese so as to secure a maximum progress in a minimum of time. (4)
The Calendar shows that English was merely a subject at Shanxi Imperial University, and Chinese was the medium of instruction. In fact, before HKU was founded, Dr. Ho Kai proposed to have Chinese as the medium of instruction as he believed students could master the subjects better without any language barriers, and they could pay fill attention to the study of their own language and literature:
For long personal experience and observation among Chinese boys, the average time which they take to pass the Oxford Local Senior or some other equivalent examination is 8 years. They require the whole of that time for the study of the English language and the various subjects that are usually taught in an English school. Chinese young men of
48 BW 901585. HKU Advisory Committee. Confidential. A Note on Salary Scales by Mr. Duncan Sloss. [c. 19401. See Appendix 4. 49 The Educational Directory of China. (1910: 3). For more information about the founding and nature of Shanxi Imperial University, Timothy Richard's Forty-five Years in China: Reminiscences. (1916: 299-3 10) provides good references. good family usually begn the study of English at the average age of 14 and are generally mamed at the age of 20. They are expected to have some employment and to make some money soon after their mamage. From this it will be seen that very few of them could or would afford the time to be devoted to the acquirement of English and general knowledge in addition to the study of their own language and literature.
Ho Kai's proposal, however, was rejected by Lugard on several grounds. Lugard made a few justifications for adopting English as the medium of instruction. One was that many students would find it difficult and confusing to learn medical and scientific jargon in Chinese. However, he realized that some Chinese had the worry of lagging behind when studying with European and Eurasian students, presumed to have a better mastery of the English language. He attempted to explain to Chinese students in 1908 that they were not underprivileged when studying in an English-speaking environment since the student population was mainly Chinese:
It has, I believe, been suggested that if the medium of instruction is English, - Students of English, Portuguese, or Indian race would have an advantage over Chinese. I anticipate that there will be few of either of these races who will desire to become Graduates but in any case the numerical superiority of the Chinese, - not merely those in the Colony but those from China - will ensure the great preponderance of Chinese at the University, just as they preponderate already at Queen's College and other establishments where the medium of instruction is English."
The situation was more complex at Shanxi Imperial University. There were two colleges: the Chinese College and the Western College. In the Western College, which presumably had more western elements, there was noticeably more Chinese staff than foreign staff. Teaching in Chinese by the Chinese teachers could make sure that the students could acquire western knowledge more efficiently without the hindrance of mastering a foreign language. To ensure that the students had a satisfactory mastery of the Chinese language, the University expected students to have gained a Chinese BA or MA before admission (Couling, 1917: 509). A comparison of the medium of instruction and the staff appointments of Shanxi Imperial University with those of HKU shows that the Shanxi University was more pedagogical in nature, so long as western knowledge was conveyed to students in the most efficient way. It did not put much emphasis on the importance of the English language and the British teachers as assets of western learning as Lugard boasted about in the case of HKU.
'O Memorandum. By His Excellency the Governor Frederick Lugard. Dated 31d August, 1908. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908- 1913. "Englishness5'Playing the Moral Role of Christianity
Given that Shanxi Imperial University was founded by the Baptist Missionary Society, London, what role did Christianity play in its setting up and presentation to the public? In the following, the features of this missionary university in China will be further discussed with reference to Rev. W. E. Soothill's A Mission in China (1907), as an attempt to examine the role of Christianity in the education of China. W. E. Soothill (1 861-1935) of the United Methodist Mission was formerly the Principal of Shanxi Imperial University from 1908 up to the time when it was handed over to the Chinese in 1910 (Couling, 1917: 509). In A Mission in China, Soothill discussed the British direction of Christian education in China. He showed that fi-om the missionary point of view, evangelical education was preferred, when compared to the Japanese "definitely not Christian" education in China, which was a direct obstacle to Christian progress (1907: 193). Soothill appealed for the British Christian education in China to spread the Gospel to the Chinese, as a tactic to counteract the rising influence of Japan and that of other western powers, such as Germany, France and the United States in setting up universities in China. Soothill's book was published around the time when Lugard proposed to set up a university in Hong Kong, against a background dominated by missionary education. For example, the Emergency Committee Scheme was semi-missionary in nature, secular in teaching but students were asked to stay in the residence run by the missionaries who promoted British Christian type of education. Soothill believed that if the British were going to set up their intellectual base, it was preferable that this was associated with the missionaries in order to compete with other western missionary universities in attracting students. Soothill raised the question: "Why will not Christian England awake to a sense of its dangers, responsibilities and privileges?" (1907: 193). "Dangery' here seems to refer to the fact that Britain was at risk of being left behind in the intellectual race in China. "Responsibilities and privileges" evokes the white race's Christian duty to spread Christianity to the deprived races of the earth. He did not elaborate on the British mission but it appears from his writing that the mission fixed the missionary-imperial with the educational: "When will [England] arouse itself to lay hold of the rising generation in pagan lands, and, from their early years, imbue them with love for Him, who was the Highest Educator the world has known or can know?" (1907: 193). While Soothill and others like Lord William Gascoyne-Cecil were enthusiastically proposing their Christian universities in China for evangelism or imperial interests, HKU was founded as a secular university in the Colony. The colonial status of Hong Kong and its official ties with Britain partly legitimized the secular labelling of the University, which could present itself as a "British" institution, promoting British moral ideals and traditions as equivalent to Christianity. Lugard's biographer explains this as follows,
[Lugard] did not believe that Chinese parents would approve of compulsory religious instruction for their children at the university level. Lugard was therefore steadfastly opposed to allowing any religious influence to shape his secular university. He recognized, however, that if HKU were to succeed, he would have to find a solution to the problem of "how to train character, and how to create moral ideals which shall have a vital and compelling force in the formation of character and the conduct of daily life, without introducing compulsory religious teaching". (Perham, 1960: 172-173, cited in Cunich, 2002: 39)
The Times Education Supplement, dated 3rd January, 191 1, raised the following question: "Can Western Education divorced from all religious teaching supply a code of morality to take up the place of the ancient indigenous codes of which a purely secular education tends to sap the inherited religious basis?" (cited in Mellor, 1992: 172). Lugard pointed out in an article of The Nineteenth Century and After (October, 1910 issue) that
Though the courses of instruction will include no compulsory religion, the philosophy and ethics of the Christianity of the West can probably be included in the study of English language and literature, no less than the philosophy and ethics of Confucius and Mencius must form an integral part of the study of Chinese language and literature. (cited in Mellor, 1992: 4)
Lugard had high expectations for the imperial role of the University within China. The "Britishness" of the University was reflected in a brief extract of his speech at the opening of HKU on 11 th March, 1911 :
The graduates of this University will go forth into China with standards of life, with conceptions of duty, with characters and ideals formed during training within these walls and the affiliated hostels. Just as they will speak English, so they will reflect the training received here from a British staff. China will no doubt have universities of her own, but we are first in the field, and this University will grow under the free institution of the British flag, enjoying the benefit of association with the universities of Great Britain. Its position and influence will be established, it will set a standard untouched as yet by any institution in China, and it may in its turn assist and guide the newer institutions. (cited in Mellor, 1992: 175-176) This imperial theme can be illustrated from the early history of the University. On loth March, 1922, the Vice-Chancellor Sir William Brunyate wrote to the Governor Sir Reginald Stubbs and expressed the wish that "the more British mission schools can look to Hongkong as their natural centre the better it will be for the future of British Education in China7'.'' Unlike the Emergency Committee Scheme, Lugard's Hongkong University Scheme did not have to seek the co-operation of other western missionary organizations. It could identify itself as a "British" institution in the Colony even though the national sentiments of the Chinese had to be considered, particularly during the 1920s. Thls was a decade of political instability in China when there was a growth of nationalist sentiments and protests against British imperialism and boycotts of British goods in Hong Kong and Canton, notably the Seamen's Strike in 1922. Missionaries were under scrutiny as religious imperialists. Missionary educational enterprises had a long history in the Colony since Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842. They played a central role in the development of education in Hong Kong and in the promotion of what can be termed c'colonial modernity", i.e. the development of fundamental civic institutions. Their enterprises provided firndarnental schooling and social welfare such as orphanages and hospitals for the poor. Missionaries spent time and effort to gain recognition and trust from the Chinese, hoping to show then that it was a general misconception to associate everything western with imperialism. Though students of HKU were not asked to commit themselves to any religious beliefs in their studies, they were free to join the activities organized by the Christian Association, founded in 1913 by a group of thirteen Christian st~dents.'~Ricci Hall, a Jesuit residential hall for boys, was also set up. In comparison, the Emergency Committee Scheme "[encouraged] the formation of denominational hostels, which shall be under the control of individual missionary bodies and which shall form colleges at the University; and while the University alone would concern itself with giving secular teaching from a neutral standpoint, the colleges would give Christian teaching to their pupils" (Gascoyne-Cecil, 1911: 312- 313). Though classroom teaching was secular in nature, the Christian spirit was expected to prevail in the proposed university in Wuchang. As Gascoyne-Cecil
" A note, recorded on the 10" March, 1922, by Sir William Brunyate, Vice-Chancellor, and addressed to His Excellency Chancellor [Sir Reginald Stubbs]. Collected in University of Hong Kong: the Rockefeller Endowment Correspondence. (1923) " For more information about the Christian Association, please refer to The Hongkong University Union Magazine. Vol. 5, No. 2. November, 1928. p. 140-141. commented, "each mission [from different countries] would continue to care for the pupils which it had hitherto sheltered and educated" (3 13). The Emergency Committee Scheme, in some sense, attempted to harmonize the missionaries of various sects and nations within a "united university'' while HKU could present itself, relatively speaking, as a "British" university which did not have to commit itself to any missionary associations. "Britishness" seemed to be the prevailing ideology of HKU and the British institutional culture, systems of thoughts, sense and sensibility were to be models for students. In this, English language and literature was presumably the subject that represented British ideas most directly across the curriculum, and had the potential to play the moral role otherwise accorded to Christianity. This question will be addressed further in the next chapter, with reference to the English curriculum at HKU. It is important to note that, while the University was "British" in nature, it was also expected to have Chinese characteristics, given that the University was a cultural bridge between the East and the West. The teaching of Chinese language and literature was highlighted by Lugard in the University Ordinance of 1911 :
There shall be Faculties of Medicine and Engineering, and such others as may be constituted by the Court, priority being given to the Science and Arts Faculties, in the latter of which due provision shall be made for the study of the Chinese language and literature. (4)
The development of Chinese studies was part of a covert appeal for the financial support of the Chinese population in Hong Kong who hoped that their children would continue their education in Chinese subjects. The University's message was that Chinese students would not be denationalized if they did their study in a home environment like Hong Kong. Nevertheless, there were also criticisms of the role and value of the University.
Positioning of HKU: Colonialism and Nationalism
Chinese: "An Alien Institution on an Alien Soil"
HKU was portrayed as a utilitarian institution that offered education beneficial to the community and the intellectual, social and cultural growth of students. While boasting of the University as a privileged institution sharing some British characteristics, the university administrators were not insensitive to the complex reactions of some Chinese concerning its cultural role. They recognized that the University was to some extent "an alien institution on an alien soil and directed in alien interests" in the eyes of many Chinese (Ching, 1997: 17). On the one hand, some Chinese welcomed English teaching as offering access to western knowledge; on the other hand, they rejected the "red-haired" teaching staff hired to teach them English and would rather be taught by traditional Chinese masters. This was the view of Sir Andrew Caldecott, a former Chancellor of the University, expressed in a letter to the Hong Kong University Advisory Committee after the Second World War (n. d.). Caldecott suggested that Hong Kong Chinese preferred a Chinese-inspired Chinese- run institution, such as the university near Hankow founded by Dr. Lim Boon Keng to the one originated by the "Red-haired".53In this context, we should note that some expatriate staff members at HKU were admirers of Chinese culture or had Oriental interests, such as the first Vice-Chancellor Sir Charles Eliot, A. H. Fenwick, Lecturer in Civil Engineering and Adrian Paterson, Lecturer of the English Department &om 1936 to 1938.54These "Orientalists" did not see their role exclusively in terms of promoting Western educational and cultural values. The cultural politics of the "Chineseness" of HKU were also complex. An attraction of the university to the Straits Chinese was that the students were not expected to know Classical Chinese or Mandarin for the Chinese courses. Cantonese was the medium of instruction for the Chinese classes and ths vernacular made HKU more popular among its counterparts in China. 55 Despite this, there were also criticisms about the use of Cantonese, which made HKU appear provincial. Lacking a sense of belonging or ownership of HKU, some Hong Kong Chinese were more interested in a new university near Canton. Even in 1939, the Vice-Chancellor Duncan Sloss wrote to R.lr. Beresford of the University Grant Committee about the high enrolment rate of the Malayan Chinese and questioned about the value of setting up a university in Hong Kong:
Students have in the main come from Malaya and from Hong Kong itself: few have come, since the very early days, from interior China. Something more than one third of our present annual expenditure is met from a Hong Kong Government grant with the result that nearly half of this may be regarded as a Hong Kong contribution to the higher education of Malayan Chinese. [. ..] A University for Hong Kong colony alone would be a grotesque extravagance, and with this development of higher education in
53 BW 901585. Confidential. No. HKUAC 7. [c. 1945-461 54 See Appendix 5 for an article in memoriam of Adrian Paterson who died by accident in Egypt in 194 1 and some of his poems collected in the HKU Union Magazine 55 Though Chinese classes were conducted in Cantonese, according to the HKU Calendar in 1927, the Chinese Department offered translation classes in Mandarin to students who could not speak Cantonese. Malaya there is a danger that in a relatively short time, this result might face us."
After the Second World War, the Committee adjusted the University's positioning and role in the Far East. It even discussed whether the University should be closed down considering the unstable political situation in Hong Kong and whether it could be restored to its local pre-war level with its British academic reputation being maintained. It was then decided that the University should be reopened for the sole interest of Hong Kong. However, in "University of Hong Kong - Present Position", a report dated 20" July, 1949, Sloss stated that the application for admission from Malaya and Singapore was still high despite the fact that a new university had been founded in Malaya:
Applications are largely from people whose fathers and uncles were trained in Hong Kong and from the families which, though resident in Malaya for as much as two generations, still regard their permanent domiciles as in Hong Kong or in one or other of the coast towns of Southern China.57
The University Committee was very much concerned about the attraction of HKU to overseas students. Dr. Ho Kai, a graduate of the Hong Kong College of Medicine and an influential supporter of the HKU project, pointed out as early as 1908 that the setting up of HKU would be particularly beneficial to the non-Chinese students in the Colony and China:
European youths in this Colony and the numerous ports of China will have an institution close at hand affording them professional and technical education equal to that given by similar establishments at home, thus saving them much expense, trouble, and long separation from their parents and families; Chinese boys here and from all parts of the Chinese Empire derive similar benefits, only perhaps in a greater degree; and young men of all other nationalities profit in the same manner.58
Sloss pointed out in 1946 that HKU tended to become a university for Overseas Chinese, and stressed that if Hong Kong was drawing Chinese students from Overseas Chinese in a positive sense like a magnet, that would be a profound argument in its favour. But he raised the question of whether the number of students going to Hong Kong, in particular those from Malaya, was owing to the positive quality of HKU, or
56 FO 371/23519 57 CO 1045/475 Enclosure 8. Scheme proposed by the Hon. Dr. Ho Kai, C.M.G. 25" July, 1908. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. because it was difficult for them to study abroad.59He suggested that their main reason for coming to HKU was their lack of Chinese and their enormous "homing instinct". This again raised the important question of whether students would prefer to take their degrees at a British university, if they had the opportunities and financial support, or whether they would prefer to study at HKU. The University was very conscious of its uncertain post-war status in the Far East and its potential rivalry with the university in Malaya. This can be detected in Professor K. H. Digby's confidential note about the future of Hong Kong that was read to the HKU staff members in Stanley Internment Camp during the Japanese Occupation:
Supposing the Hong Kong University voluntarily invites liquidation, what a bad example for Hong Kong middle schools who will be faced with similar difficulties in restarting! What an opportunity for Singapore to say Hong Kong has had to abandon a University so as to let Singapore be the home of representative British University for the Far East.60
The claim had been made for HKU that it was the "representative British University for the Far East" since its founding in 1911. For example, a comparison was made between the Peking Institute and HKU as the centre of British culture in China. In 1947, Creech Jones addressed the question of choosing between Peking and Hong Kong as the centre of British culture. He attempted to characterize the two institutions: "The object of the Peking Institute is to enable British scholars to engage in Chinese culture, and its function is entirely distinct from that of Hong Kong University, which I take it, is to serve as a centre for the dissemination of British culture and ideas in Nevertheless, in spite of all the rhetoric about HKU7sspecial role, Professor W. J. in ton,^^ in his lecture entitled "Hong Kong's place in the British Empire" in 1941, noted that it was actually quite limited within China:
As for the University, it cannot be regarded as purely a matter for Hong Kong. At present it seems to fall between two stools, being rather more than is desired by the Colony as the apex to its educational pyramid, but far less than can properly be offered to the Chinese as a specimen of first-class British University education.63
59 BW 901585. HKU Advisory Committee. Record of the First Meeting of the HKU Advisory Committee held at 2:30pm on Friday, the 18' January, 1946, in the Conference Room, Dover House. 60 BW 901585. A confidential document filed by the Hong Kong University Advisory Committee. No. HKUAC 9. F09241610A. A minute record on "Re-establishment of Hong Kong University". 6" February, 1947. 62 BW 901585. According to the Membership of HKU Advisory Committee, Professor W. J. Hinton was the Professor of Political Economy, the Dean of Arts and a Member of the Court and the Council of Hong Kong University from 19 13-1929. 63 BW 901585. Hong Kong University Advisory Committee. Part A: Extracts from a lecture given by Professor W.J. Hinton on 2ndApril, 1941 to the Royal Central Asian Society in London. What makes a first-class British university? This certainly implies that HKU had failed to become "excellent" or "first-class" in the jargon of contemporary academic life. While the University appeared to be an alien institution or too provincial to some Chinese, it is also significant to look at how the University staff members evaluated its cultural role.
Teaching Staff: Colonial Mimicry?
It would be wrong to state categorically that the founding of HKU was intended to create a "little England" in colonial Hong Kong. What was to be the intended product of such a university? Were the students to become "little Englishmen" and "colonial mimics", or were they to be modem citizens of China but with a special sympathy for British values and institutions? Though the University had the ambition to spread westem knowledge and particularly English ideas in the Far East, the senior teaching staff rejected the notion that they planned to transform the Chinese students into "little Englishmen". Two Vice-Chancellors, Sir William Brunyate and Duncan Sloss touched upon this issue, revealing the British anxiety concerning the positioning of the colonial institution. Were the staff members to be open-minded cultural pluralists, nostalgic distant nationalists, Orientalists or colonial missionaries? This preoccupation with their relationship to the students and their role at HKU runs through the history of the University. Sir William Brunyate was the third Vice-Chancellor of HKU (1921-24). Writing to Sir Reginald Stubbs, the Chancellor of HKU and the Governor, concerning the University and Chinese Education on loth March, 1922, Brunyate expressed his perception of the Chinese students in Hong Kong:
Some doubt will naturally be felt as to the extent to which we can produce anything to be a British atmosphere in Hongkong, nor is the point one on which it is quite easy to make up one's own mind. Perhaps the simplest course would be to leave it to Dr. Scott and Sir Charles Addis to judge for themselves. But I think that I ought to say that, on my arrival here a year ago, I was favourably impressed by the general tone of our students. I will not pretend that they can with any fairness be described as copies of Englishmen, but I am by no means sure that I should wish them to be so, and I am at least satisfied that their tone is such as entirely to justify Sir Frederick Lugard's experiment in creating the ~niversity.~~(my emphasis)
64 The note was collected in University of Hong Kong: the Rockefeller Endowment Correspondence. Hong Kong: Ye Olde Printerie, Ltd., 1923. p. 12. To Brunyate, the creation of a "British atmosphere" did not imply that students were to be turned into "copies of Englishmen" in the Colony, and this was not part of the agenda of the University. Duncan Sloss was the fifth Vice-Chancellor of HKU (1 937-49) and his term of office straddled the Second World War. In a letter to Christopher Cox dated 29th October, 1945, Sloss showed his concern about the labelling of HKU as a "British" institution after the War: "To lump the two [HKU and the University of Malaya] together as 'British' is to embark on a dangerous and futile project. We are trying to make good Malays and Chinese not imitation Englishmen [. . AS Sir Herbert Eason pointed out in the first meeting of the HKU Advisory Committee in January, 1946, it was essential for British prestige to have a university in Hong Kong and in Malaya from the imperial point of view.&Then why was it a "dangerous and futile project" to lump the two colonial universities together as "British"? Sloss foresaw that the growth of the anti-imperial sentiments after the end of the Second World War might put the colonial "projects" in jeopardy. The reopening of HKU after the War was presented as serving the sole interests of Hong Kong, rather than serving the interests of the British Empire in the Far East.
Conclusion
There was a great deal of debate and controversy concerning the role and recognition of a British university in the Far East in particular in relation to its appointment of British staff and the use of English as the medium of instruction. One role imagined for HKU was as a model for the western institutions in China. However, its actual influence was subjected to the changing political and cultural climate between 1912 and post-war eras. An examination of the intertwining relationships among colonialism, nationalism and imperialism is useful in understanding the University's history. This chapter situates HKU in a broader historical and cultural context. On the one hand, the University was regarded as privileged or distinct from other western institutions in China on the basis of its "Britishness". On the other hand, it was seen as an "alien institution" for its predominance of "red-haired" teachers and, ironically, its "provincialism" to some Mainland Chinese. In order to have a thorough understanding of how English education, in terms of language and culture, carried out
65 BW 901585. Correspondence to Martins Bank, Oxford. 66 BW 901585. According to the Membership of HKU Advisory Committee, Sir Herbert Eason was the
60 its symbolic and practical roles at W, I will look at the history of the English Department from 1913 to 1964, using a "microscopic" approach in Chapter 3. I will focus on the role of the British and local staff members as English teachers, the English curriculum and its interdisciplinarity. In this, the period when R. K. M. Simpson headed the English Department (1920-1951) is chosen as the scope of discussion, since he was a practical educationalist who addressed at least some of the concerns and problems facing the study of English in Hong Kong.
President of the General Medical Council and the former Principal of the London College. 6 1 Chapter 3 English Literary Studies at the English Department
Introduction
My research is concerned with questions of colonial higher education policy, and with the problematic status of "English culture" - especially language and literature - in a colonial setting. While English literary studies has often been defined by "Englishness", the teaching of the English national discourse was potentially problematic in Hong Kong. If Literature and Nation formed an inseparable entity, would not the teaching of English literature open up a serious cultural gap? The evolution of the English Department of the University from 1920 to 195 1 in particular, as a case study, may provide some insight into how English, as a culture and a language, was taught in a colonial institution. According to the Annual Reports of the Faculty of Arts for the 1930~~~~apart from attending classes conducted in English, both arts and non-arts undergraduates had to take a compulsory English course offered by the English Department in the first year of their programme. The English Department was then an academic unit which offered a cross-disciplinary course for non-specialist students in addition to teaching its own specialized cumculum. This was partly to ensure that students could acquire a satisfactory standard of English in order to follow a course of study in English. The Calendars of the Arts Faculty since Simpson's time also stressed that the English courses had a cultural value apart from their practical value. 68 Students were introduced to a collection of English canonical works, which might lead them to have a better understanding of British culture. Students were expected to master the English language well in a cultural sense, apart from its practical use. This chapter attempts to provide a historical account of the first fifty years of the HKU English Department in three respects: the personnel, the role of the Department considering the courses it offered, and the interdisciplinarity of English studies. The institutional history of the Department, reconstructed from the archives of staff publications, Faculty reports, syllabi and students magazines, provides some traces of the University's language policy, if this is the correct term, and its understanding of its cultural role. A few alumni who graduated in the early 1940s have been interviewed in order to supplement the archival record with the oral history of
67 Each department of the Arts Faculty had a section in the Faculty Report (i.e. Departmental Report) to give an account of the work in the previous academic year. 68 See Appendix 6 for the objectives of the English curriculum in the early 1920s. students who studied English at HKU before the outbreak of the Second World War. Secondly, I will examine specifically how English literary studies was presented to students: as a universal discourse, a secular "missionary" subject or a "British" national discourse, on the basis of the discussion in the previous chapters. Ths chapter focuses more on the teaching of English literature than on the language in the early years of the Department. Several staff members were concerned with how literary studies should be taught to students in Hong Kong. While teachers faced some difficulties when teaching the language to students, in areas such as grammar and pronunciation, the complexities of the teaching and learning of English as a culture was more their concern. One way to make the subject appealing was to "denationalize" it and present it as a universal discourse. I will discuss how English literary studies at HKU was intended to appeal to students with its interdisciplinarity and to shape their cultural understanding as part of the acquisition of "general knowledge" in the later part of this chapter.
Personnel of English Department, 1913-1964
The claim has been made that the English Department was founded at the University simultaneously with the Faculty of art^.^' According to the Calendar of 1913-14, the Faculty of Arts was founded in October that academic year and the lectures for the first year were delivered partly by the aid of temporary lecturers. There were around eight permanent lecturers in the Faculty, which included J. D. Wright, the lecturer in Engli~h.~~JosephDelver Wright, M. A., was the lecturer in English at the University of Jena, Germany, fiom 1910 to 1913 before being appointed by HKU.~'He was then the Professor of English Language and Literature fiom 1914 to 1919 and the Dean of the Faculty from 1916 to 19 19. Not much was known about Wright apart from the record in the Calendar that he gave a short course of about four public lectures on English Phonetics in 1914. In 1920, Robert Kennedy Muir Simpson was appointed as the lecturer of English and was the Professor from 1921 to his retirement in 1951. He was awarded a Military Cross after the First World War and then he taught at Edinburgh, fiom which he had
69 University of Hong Kong. Students7Union. Arts Association. <*kfif-fi:m@%iE!@>> Hong Kong: Arts Association Editorial Board, 1988. 'O 'O In the Arts Association Publication (1988), it states that in the first year of the Faculty's work there was not even a permanent member of staff teaching English, but only a temporary lecturer. In 1914, J. D. Wright was appointed as the first, and the only lecturer in English. " "Directory of Teachers." Educational Directory of China. 1916. p.118. earlier graduated as an M. A. with Honours in 1914, before coming to Hong ~ong.'" He had definite views on the teaching of English language and literature in the Colony. His publications include Ten More: A Collection of Essays on Subjects Chiefly Literary (c. 1930), Diversions (1933) and The Student Reader (1933). Their topics range from literary appreciation to a discussion of the difficulties of English teachng in the Colony. Diversions is a collection of his poetry written about Hong Kong. Simpson also published an essay collection entitled Further Shakespeare: A Series of Lectures Delivered on the Wireless under the Auspices of the Hong Kong Broadcasting Committee (1931). The Hong Kong Broadcasting Committee was the forerunner of the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) and the RTHK electronic archive7' shows that some university lecturers, such as Simpson, delivered lectures of academic interest to the public through broadcasting. Some humorous comments were given by Simpson concerning the lecture series and the "milder enjoyment of literature" in the dynamic Hong Kong society:
The Broadcasting Committee believe that you who listen in on the Hong Kong wireless, might be interested in a series of short talks on Shakespeare. How far their belief is justified, I do not know; and, as I do not see your faces, I cannot even guess. I am like a prematurely buried person, speaking from a vault, and hoping that some of the happy living creatures in the outer air will lend an ear. The scenes in Shakespeare which occur to me in my present circumstances, are Hamlet in the graveyard, and Romeo in the tomb; and I am sure that my voice will soon acquire, if it has not already acquired, a most sepulchral tone. Anyhow, it is generally assumed that although this city is crowded with opportunities for the most vivid enjoyments, eating, drinking, laughing, money-making, dancing, cinemas and sport, there is still space left for the milder enjoyment of literature. This milder enjoyment the Broadcasting Committee try to provide by offering talks on Shakespeare. The idea is that, if you are very young or not very experienced in the enjoyment of Shakespeare, these lectures may help you extend that enjoyment. If, on the other hand, you are not so very young or have long been a delighted reader of Shakespeare, these lectures may serve the purpose of reviving old delights; or even, if I am lucky, stimulating new. (193 1: 3-4)
Simpson's professorship of thirty odd years at HKU also included the trauma of the Second World War and he left behind a memoir of his experience in the Japanese detention camp entitled These Defenceless Doors: A Memoir of Personal Experience in the Battle of Hong Kong and After. This work provides a profile of Simpson and
72 According to an obituary of the Edinburgh University Journal, Vol. 24, 1969-70, Robert K. M. Sirnpson, M.C., M.A. 1914, formerly Professor of English, University of Hong Kong, passed away at Aberfeldy, Perthshire on 21" September, 1969. Professor Simpson was educated at Perth Academy and after service in the Great War, when he was awarded the Military Cross, he taught in Edinburgh before going to Hong Kong. He was a prisoner of war for over three years during the Second World War and returned to Edinburgh in 1951. He died while on holiday. See Appendix 7 for the obituaries and the Roll of Honour of Simpson. 73 RTHK Classics Channel.
74 The records consulted are Oficers of the Association and List of Members, 1920 [etc.]. London. III. Miscellaneous Institutions, Societies, and Other Bodies. English Association. London, 1920, etc., deposited in the British Library. 75 Bernard Birch, an English lecturer, was the Head of the Department in the academic year of 1952. Alan Green succeeded Blunden as the Department Head in 1961. See Appendix 8 for a staff list (1913- 1964) complied with the appointment and personnel information of the HKU Faculty Reports. Also see Appendix 9 for some biographical information of Renaldo Oblitas, Lecturer in English Language and Literature from 1946-1960s, who wrote the obituary of Simpson for HKU Gazette. useful for tracing the personnel, the class size and, most importantly, Simpson's evaluation of the progress of teaching in the Department. Secondly, there are more revealing archival materials such as staff publications, student magazines and public records found during Simpson's time. Simpson's publications also form a basis for understanding how the subject was taught. The alumni whom I have interviewed, for example, Dr. Leung Man Wah Bentley (BA 1940), Mr. Patrick Yu Shuk Siu (BA 1942) and Dr. Rayson Huang (BSc 1942)76attended Simpson's lectures and they offered their views from a student perspective. Before illustrating Simpson's suggestions on how to teach English more effectively in Hong Kong, I will first explain why EngIish literary studies at HKU has been selected as the focal point of the research, considering its intertwining relationships with "Englishness" and "Britishness" in this colonial university in China. While Hayhoe (1999: 19) points out that the role of HKU to China was minimal, HKU was the most accessible outlet of British values and institutions, combating against the growing American influence in China. What was the role of English literary studies in this cultural campaign?
Enterprising and Artistic Values of English Studies
The University had a broad vision to promote a western type of education in both humanities and scientific studies in English. Simpson pointed out that some people thought it was a waste of time for foreign students of English to read poetry and study prosody (1930: 31) and the professors of the old type like George E. B. Saintsbury (1845-1933), an English critic and hstorian, regarded English as the mystical birthright of a chosen people and they were not interested in trying to teach foreign students about it (1930: 28). This belief of linguistic and cultural purism of English confined the cultural aspects of the language to the English and implied that if the English language was taught outside Britain, it was expected to be learnt merely as a medium for business. Simpson pointed out that thousands of the foreign students were forced by their occupations to worry over the difficulties of English (1929: 25). English was regarded as an important asset for the Hong Kong people to make a decent living. English language was learnt for business purpose and Simpson was also aware of the general
76 According to the testimonial written by Professor Brown, Professor of Mathematics and the Dean of Science, dated 28 January, 1942, Huang entered the University in September, 1938, as an Undergraduate in the Faculty of Arts, taking the Science Group which was then included in that Faculty. In September, 1939, Huang transfened to the newly formed Faculty of Science. A copy of the belief that "the activities of most Europeans in the East are enterprising rather than reflective; commercial rather than artistic" (1924: 4). This suggested that the Europeans took profit making as their prime motive of coming to the East. In fact, throughout the University's history, there was sensitivity to this charge, and demands from the Chinese population and some colonial figures to strengthen the cultural role of the University. Some British did not want HKU to be just like an agent of commerce. On the reopening of HKU after the Second World War, it was claimed that "if the University abandoned the attempt to use itself as a cultural link, this would not only give the impression that the British was clinging to the Colony for reasons of material interest alone, but it would appear as a confession of failure in the past, a sort of capitulation in the all-important sphere of cultural relation^".^^ Considering that the American ideology was spreading in China, the British on the one hand did not want Hong Kong to appear like a cultural desert. It was in their interests for the Chinese to have a deeper understanding of Britain, its values and traditions. On the other hand, the University had to present English literary studies appealingly to the Chinese. Both practical and cultural aspects of the subject had to be taken into account, including questions of subject matter, the kind of knowledge of Britain as a nation in Europe and as a colonising power that they were expected to acquire?
Beyond Representations of Britain?
Students who took English courses at HKU from 1923-1928 had to consult Marshall and Schaap's A Manual of English for Foreign Students (first published in 1914). It was a prescriptive grammar which, as its preface states, was to be a guidebook in grammar and phonetics for foreign students, whose native language was not English, though targeted also at foreigners residing in Britain: "Most foreigners resident in [Britain] are engaged in commercial pursuits, and are anxious to get a working knowledge of the language as quickly as possible" (1947: iii; 13~~ impression). Apart from phonetics and grammar, composition was a means of studying and mastering English written usage. Moreover, these writing exercises were not merely prescriptive, demanding mastery of grammar, the formation of ideas and good presentation skills were also required. In the following, I will examine how some types of questions have been set as models for students to write their short story and paper by illustrating the kinds of questions students were asked: testimonial is collected in Growing with Hong Kong (2002: 73). 77 FO 371146249. A memorandum from the University to the Far Eastern Committee on the kture of (A) General Type
Character sketch of a personal friend (cf. Thackeray's Esnzond) What I should wish a Book to tell me. A Universal Language A description of my birthplace A letter giving an account of your most interesting journey Which would you rather be - a Bird or a Fish? Are polar expeditions worth the sacrifice involved? Can war ever be justified?
(B) Questions on experience in England
1. Experience of my first day in England 2. My ideal English house 3. My ideal Englishman 4. "The English take their pleasures sadly." 5. Do the English devote too much time and attention to outdoor sports? 6. Tell the substance of any English novel you have read 7. The English Theatre - Gallery and Pit 8. Impressions of my first English book 9. The most interesting place in England that I have visited. 10. You are returning to your family after two years' absence in England. Give your chief impressions. 11. The causes of England's pre-eminence as a colonizing nation 12. My reasons for learning English 13. The chief difficulties I experience in my study of English 14. An appreciation of Shakespeare
(C) Questions comparing an English topic and the 'other'
1. A comparison between my favourite native author and my favouite English author 2. English and Continental public buildings contrasted
Although students in Hong Kong might not have been asked to write exactly on the above topics, the questions in the Manual give some idea of the tone and content of English education at that time.
the University after the Second World War. Dated 8&March, 1945. 6 8 I have put the questions into three categories: (A) general questions of universal interest and imaginative types; (El) questions about experiences in England, and C) questions requiring a comparison between an English topic and its "Other". Category B is the main concern of my discussion as "England" is being featured. Unless the lecturers adapted the topic from the context of England to Hong Kong or some Asian countries, students could hardly attempt those questions if they had had no travelling experience in Britain before or had had little contact with the English. Some questions could have been directed to students in Hong Kong. For example, students were asked to give an analysis of the causes of England's pre-eminence as a "colonizing nation" in Question B 11 and discuss the chief difficulties in learning English in B13. The only question related to the non-English culture was the one asking the students to compare their favourite native author and English author (question Cl). It apparently shows that England and English were still the central subjects for discussion in an English book for foreign students and students were expected to have some knowledge of England and English culture learnt from their life experience or from books. Questions of self-representation, subjectivity and bias arose particularly in relation to national textbooks, even more so when the textbooks published by the colonial power were studied in the colonies. As Smith argued in Towards World Understanding: Bias in History Textbooks and Teaching (1962), in the inter-war era the educational arena involved crucially the representation of national history and culture. Literature was also under scrutiny, as history and literature were often believed to be inseparable in the western literary tradition. Writing was not just self- expression, but could be a medium for conveying national values and ideologies. When Europe was on the verge of the outbreak of the Second World War in the late 1930s, some books were regarded as "ideological catalysts of supernationalism and racial hatred" (1962: 9). Against this background of concern over the ideological content of textbooks, one should not, however, neglect the choice of historical and literary texts in the colonial institutions of higher education. In fact, some university staff members were conscious of being identified as imperialists and this was reflected in their publications. Fenwick (1931b: 4) pointed out that "the University of Hong Kong is what the Chinese call 'an Imperialistic Institution7, and Chinese who are associated with it are 'the running dogs of the ~m~erialists"'.~~In a letter dated 6th
78 Memorandum of Chinese Studies. Dated 18" October, 1931. Hong Kong: s. n.. According to the HKU Calendar of 1934, A. H. Fenwick, BSc (London), was a Lecturer in Civil Engineering. He was described as a "Chinese admirer" in the memoriam of Adrian Paterson, an English lecturer, in the HKU Union Magazine, 1941. July, 1939, D. J. Sloss, the Vice-Chancellor (1 937-1 949), invited British academics to apply for the teaching posts at HKU. He hoped that the applicants would look at the education of the Colony as good imperialists did.79For him, "imperialism" referred to the British conviction of building up a sound British-style educational system in the Colony. In comparison, G. A. C. Herklots, a Reader in Biology, dealt with "imperialism" more from the sense of "Britishness" and its merits at the University when some Chinese were still hesitant to send their children to the "British" university after the Second World War. He argued that "the word British does stand for something beyond imperialism; in the university world it stands for thoroughness, breath of outlook, intellectual honesty, critical analyses of values and freedom of thought and expression"." To Herklots, these were all the positive qualities which could be cultivated through studying English literature and were beyond British nationalism. Simpson had a broad vision for students who studied English literature. His views in some sense anticipated Herklots' definition of "Britishness", which could be seen as a way to transcend the imperialistic image of the "British" subject. English literary studies was to be an open door to western civilization, not merely a subject for knowing Britain as a nation and culture. Apart from the general belief that the British tradition and ideas were best conveyed through the study of English literature, there might be other factors which suggested why canonical works by British authors dominated the syllabi. In "American Literature in British Colleges and Schools" (1938), Jones pointed out that only a little American literature was studied in the British universities and not many modem English writings were on the reading list. He stressed that the students in both Britain and America were usually asked to study literature written by authors "half a century dead" as a correspondent noted in the Sunday Times: "The Britain that Americans know [...I is the Britain of Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Kipling and Edgar Wallace" (1938: 395). Was this the case at HKU? Did the students know about the history of Britain from the literature written centuries ago? Did the English curriculum focus more on the "dull and purposeless philologyy' as Jones said and exclude contemporary writers? "One can still graduate in English at any British
"FO 371123519. D. J. Sloss. A letter to Beresford, University Grant Committee. Dated 6" July, 1939. 80 CO 10451470. G. A. C. Herklots. "A New Hong Kong University." A memorandum fiom a report submitted to D. J. Sloss in Stanley Internment Camp, 1945. 1-7. university and know nothing of any writer later than Tennyson or Dickens" (1938: 395). In the case of Hong Kong, it should be noted that the English Department offered a similar curriculum to those of the British universities, partly because of the educational background of the staff. Since the University aimed at keeping a predominantly British tone, British staff members were employed who mostly received their education in Britain. In other words, lecturers of the English Department were expected to have acquired knowledge of English literature from their first degree. This could help explain why English literary studies was basically a study of British literature at the University.
Simpson's Views on the Study of English
Professor Simpson discussed the difficulties some students had in mastering the language at both practical and cultural levels. Considering that Simpson stressed the interdisciplinary nature of literary studies and the first year English course was an obligatory subject for the non-arts students, English literary studies has been presented as a subject of more than "Englishness" or merely a subject to supplement English learning. Simpson believed that "general knowledge" could be acquired through English literary studies which was not necessarily a study of Britain. It was a humanities subject rather than the site of a nationalistic discourse in Hong Kong.
Language Problems
English was not the native language of most students in Hong Kong and they seldom used it in their daily life. Simpson discussed the language problems. I will summarize his discussion briefly in this section. As a learner of Cantonese, Simpson encountered problems in mastering the vocabulary and pron~nciation.~~This may have helped him understand more about the difficulties faced by HKU students in learning English. In an article entitled "Phonetics", Simpson pointed out that for the Chinese speaking English, a particular sound was "a little difficult because it [did] not exist in any of the well-known Chinese vernaculars" (c.1930: 95). In the Departmental Report of 1926, he commented that the unwillingness of the Chinese students to practise English pronunciation was partly owing to their native modesty. He thought that the Chinese students were too inclined to believe that they could learn the phonetics by silent reading, and as soon as they opened their mouth to speak, they
8 1 "Pontes Asinorum of Chinese: A Symposium." The Hong Kong University Union Magazine. Vol. 5,
7 1 would find that they were actually ignorant of English. Simpson suggested that students should interact more with teachers and shake off their native modesty and "learn it greatly by that training in listening and observation" (c. 1930: 96). Simpson also took a strong interest in the comparative linguistics of English and Chinese. He concluded that the "current errors of Chinese in speaking English, are not hopelessly complicated, utterly irrational or too infinite to compete with. He will find that they can be systematised into a definite series". "Phonetics opens up great possibilities in the comparison of Chinese with English" (c. 1930: 97). As mentioned in the Departmental Report of 1933, a special apparatus for the study of phonetics was purchased, claimed to be unique in the Far East. Simpson argued that it would not only serve to make the work in English phonetics more extensive and more precise, but would also make it possible to undertake a scientific comparison of the sounds used in speaking English with the sounds used in speaking Chinese. One can argue that the lecturers' interest in Chinese linguistics was mainly to take the Chinese language as a sample to be compared with English language, the focus of their research. However, it showed that the students also had opportunities to get in touch with Chinese linguistics in some form in the Department. Simpson pointed out other aspects of English learning which foreign students would have difficulties to master. One was that pronunciation of English did not always correspond with spelling. While some native speakers of English who studied English all their lives had difficulties in dealing with pronunciation and spelling, Simpson noted it was much harder for a foreign student of English, who did not have daily opportunities for learning by ear. Apart from pronunciation, Simpson listed other difficulties that blocked the Chinese from mastering English. He mentioned that some Chinese students told him that it was the stress patterns that made the English language more difficult to handle than Chinese. Simpson also pointed out that the proper use of grammar was a perpetual stumbling block to all foreigners, and few Chinese students could ever acquire a command of the twelve tenses, which could be applied without a thought by people whose native language was English, However, Simpson also admitted that the problems of stress and grammar were sometimes applied to native speakers of English as well, and this might help them understand the difficulties faced by non-native speakers in studying the language. Idioms were another aspect which foreign students found difficult when learning English. Simpson pointed out that there was a dilemma between grammar and idiom, which raised the
-- - No. 2. November, 1928. question of the logic of the language. However, as the lecturers usually devoted much effort to the teaching of grammar, students rarely had opportunities to use English idioms and they had more difficulties in understanding them. Simpson realized that some native speakers would avoid using allusion in their conversation with non-native English speakers, so, English learners even had lesser opportunities to communicate with English speakers in an environment that could help them learn the language.
Localization of English Teachers
In the inter-war era, staff members teaching English were overwhelmingly British, but there was a partial localization in junior teaching staff which began in the late 1930s. Simpson commented in his essay collection, Ten More, that "a Chinese teacher has some advantages over an English teacher in teaching English to Chinese". "He knows from his own experience what are the special difficulties to the Chinese students" (c. 1930: 98). In Chapter 1, the issues of English teachers and the teachers of English have been discussed from the perspective of the English Association. Widdowson (1996: 68) pointed out that teachers who came from the same community as their learners were in a better position to construct the relevant classroom contexts and make the learning process more real than were teachers coming from a different linguistic and cultural background. The ideal case might be where non-native English speaking teachers had immersion in some English communities, for example, having done their postgraduate studies and spent some years in Britain, and at the same time had some personal experience of how to handle English as a foreign language. Some critics (e.g. Canagarajah, 1999; Widdowson, 1994 and 1996) even acknowledged the competence of the non-native English teachers and argued against the "native speaker fallacy", shattering the myth that the post of English teachers could only be taken up by the native English speakers who speak Standard British English. In 1938, the English Department appointed its first Chinese staff member, Katherine Lai Po Kan (1 912-2003), as temporary lecturer.82In 1940, Leung Man Wah was appointed as a tutor in the Department when no young lecturers in English could be engaged to come to Hong Kong as a result of the war in Britain.83One might argue that though Chinese staff had some advantages in doing comparative linguistics and literary studies, they lacked "general knowledge", or specifically western knowledge.
s2 HKU Annual Report, 1938-39. See Appendix 10 for the biography and obituary of Katherine Lai Po Kan. 83 Leung Man Wah Bentley. "Remembrances of Times Past: the University and Chungking." Dispersal and Renewal (1998: 105-106) and Growing with Hong Kong (2002: 58). Since Lugard believed that British staff was credited with a good moral standing, the inclusion of Chinese staff might dilute the "Britishness" of the University. The University also considered the following two qualities when recruiting the Chinese staff: possession of "general knowledge" and morality. It indicated its preference for HKU graduates who had completed their postgraduate studies in England to take up the junior teaching posts. The fact that they had had study experience in Britain would ensure that the Chinese staff would fuse well with the predominant tone of Britishness. Since the mid 1930s, the University has produced several graduates who were qualified to fill the teaching posts. In 1953, Sir Ivor Jennings, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ceylon, and Douglas William Logan, the Principal of the University of London, were invited by the University for an independent examination of the working and financial requirements of the University. Their findings were listed in A Report on the University of Hong Kong (September, 1953), in which they stressed the importance of cultural understanding of teachers towards the environment that the students were living with in Hong Kong:
It is that the University of Hong Kong ought as far as possible to be staffed by people who understand the social background from which the students come. Some lecturers would be Chinese or permanent residents. Some would be "foreigners" who have studied the environment and understand it, while those who are appointed from abroad ought to be prepared, as we believe the present expatriate staff are, to learn to understand their students not only as individuals but also as products of the local environment. (15)
The appointment of local and expatriate staff has been looked at both in terms of effectiveness of teaching and economics. The academic qualification of the University graduates was hrther acknowledged:
There are sound reasons for preferring local staff where they are available. In the first place they are much cheaper. Expatriate staff have to be given expatriation pay and provided with passages and quarters. In the second place, local staff do not disrupt the business of the University by taking long leave at frequent intervals - though we suggest below that there ought to be a leave scheme for them. In the third place local staff change less frequently than expatriate staff and therefore provide greater stability. In the fourth place, the local staff, if adequately qualified academically, have the advantage over expatriate staff until the latter have spent some years in the colony, of being better acquainted with the social background and economic environment of the students. (52-53)
If it be agreed that in principle local staff may be as good and certainly are less expensive than expatriate staff, the question of how to get them arises. The best method is to provide a steady stream of good Honours graduates going to universities overseas for higher education. Here we meet the reverse of the process, for the graduate has to adapt himself to his new environment, and in the process of learning more about his 'subject' he has to broaden his general education. He ought to bring back not merely a higher degree or professional qualification but also a wider understanding. If appointed to the University staff he will share his students' environment, but he will also be able to lead them into broader fields. (53)
However, some external factors such as the non-availability of British staff after the end of the Second World War also led to the progressive localization of staff," as in the case of Leung Man Wah. In Duncan Sloss' Report "University of Hong Kong - Present Position" dated 20th July, 1949, he mentioned the training of English teachers and local people in taking up the posts vacated by overseas men and women after the War." A confidential summary report of the HKU Advisory Committee showed that the posts of junior lecturers, tutors and demonstrators were exclusively local appointments in the 1940~.~~ Nevertheless, junior lecturers in English appointed in England formed a group apart and were treated as a special case, showing that the preference for British staff continued after the War. Leung Man Wah commented that the Junior lecturers from England were only a few years older than their students and they were knowledgeable. However, they seemed to her that they were ignorant of the low standard of English of the students in Hong Kong in her days.
Tutorial System
In the Departmental Report of 1926, Simpson stressed the importance of tutorial work for students who needed more practice in spoken English: "At all stages of the English course [the tutorial] is essential as a means of making sure that Chinese students do not concentrate their efforts on acquiring a mere reading and writing, or bookish, knowledge of English, to the neglect of spoken English." Simpson also pointed out that tutorials provided more intensive elementary teaching to HKU students that could not be done in a large class:
At the beginning of the English course there are still other reasons which make individual tuition of greater value than class teaching. The English class in the first year is so far from homogeneous, is so concerned with more elementary work than English classes in Universities at home, and, in normal years, is so big, that many students would derive no benefit from lectures, if they were not aided by a thorough tutorial system.
Some HKU students were criticized for lacking confidence in spealung English in the Departmental Report of the early 1920s. However, Simpson also observed that
84 FO 371146429 War Cabinet. Far Eastern Committee. "The Future of Hong Kong University." Memorandum by the Colonial Office. co 10451475 s6 BW 901585 students have made some progress in mastering the language and mentioned this in successive reports:
With regard to the difficulty of teaching the spoken language, it is satisfactory to note that students are talung an increasing interest in the study of Phonetics. This leads them to a clearer and more confident knowledge of English sounds than that which the average student can ever attain by mere listening and imitating. It will also lead, in time, to clearer teaching of those elements of English which schools often entrust to Chinese teachers who are our graduates. (Departmental Report, 1926)
[. ..] many Chinese of considerable mental calibre who, although backward in English at the beginning of the course, sometimes succeed in drawing level with the others, or even surpassing them, before the course is finished. (Departmental Report, 1928)
As part of their training in spoken English, all students in the department are gven a systematic course in phonetics. During the period under review the instruction in phonetics has been helped by the acquisition of a phonetic kymograph. It is satisfactory to note that the Chinese student, who was at one time reluctant to regard English as anything other than a language for silent reading and writing has now begun to take a real interest in English as a study for ear and mouth. (Departmental Report, 1934-38)
Phonetics training was regarded as very important in the learning of English. This was particularly true for English graduates of HKU, as Simpson pointed out that they would later become English teachers at local schools. An adaptation from rote learning to developing a real interest in English was not only encouraged in phonetics studies, but literary studies as well. To develop an interest in the English culture was thought to be the best way to understand literary allusions.
Promotion of Drama
Simpson thought that dramatic production could provide a good environment for learning English and was an essential feature of English education. In Growth through English, Dixon claimed that "drama opens up to the inarticulate and illiterate that engagement with experience on which literature rests" (1969: 38). In this, dramatic performance was an intellectual articulation of taste, culture and historical experience, which could give immediacy to the audience. It also involves interpretation, acting out, reception and interaction, which are crucial for students in Hong Kong to enliven the English language. According to Warner (1970), the Hong Kong Amateur Dramatic Corps was founded in 1844 and first performed on the upper floor of a warehouse and later a "matshed" grandly entitled the "Theatre R~yal".~'Its productions ranged from
s7 100 Years Ago: A Picture-story of Hong Kong in 1870. Foreword Text by John Warner; translated by Wucius Wong. Hong Kong: Urban Council, 1970. The Amateur Dramatic Club was also named the Dramatic Society and Dramatic Corps in other publications. For more information about the history of 76 traditional Shakespearean plays to plays with Chinese elements. R. K. M. Simpson's The Western Theatre in the Far East (1924), an account of Walter Sinclair's work in Hong Kong, suggests the affiliation of HKU with the Hong Kong Amateur Dramatic Club. Students took part in the casting of the plays. For example, in the production of Dunsany's play "The Gods of the Mountain" in 1920, Sinclair trained a cast of Chinese undergraduates from HKU who were regarded as the most appropriate cast and striking interpreters of Lord Dunsany's plays (6). Models of Sinclair's stage sets were displayed in the British Empire Exhibition (Hong Kong section). According to a poster of the Exhibition held at Wembley, 1924-25, over 17 million people visited the Exhibition that year. The Exhibition was used as a showcase for imperial commerce and as a mean of informing the public about the different cultures and parts of the ~rn~ire.~'There were some Chinese elements in Sinclair's play. Simpson commented that the European and colonial affiliates in Hong Kong were not only enterprising and commercial but could be very artistic and reflective: "The East has been an inspiration" for some Europeans residing in Hong Kong (1924: 3). The British Empire Exhibition was a vivid demonstration of the imperial project, and Simpson's publication on Sinclair was very valuable as it shows the University's affiliation with the Hong Kong Amateur Dramatic Club in the early 1920s, and that dramatic performance was a legacy of the HKU English Department beginning from the headship of Simpson to Edmund Blunden and up till the present. The stage has also been a venue for the teaching staff of the English Department to interact more closely with the students as the latter took part in the production crew as players or stage helpers. Like the cricket ground, the theatre stage was an important place for social interaction. Sports and dramatic performances extended English teaching beyond the classroom contexts.
Problems of Literary Allusion
In his lecture entitled "The Difficulty of English", given before the English Association in 1929, Simpson pointed out that the foreign learners of English did not share the instinctive ease of the native speakers in speaking English. He understood that it was more natural for the people born in the British Isles to speak English, even when it was imperfectly acquired at school, as knowledge of the language was the Drama Club, the present "The Hong Kong Players", please refer to
[These] readers reflect the fact that whereas English children are acquainted with the simple facts of their English life, to foreign children, especially children so differently circumstanced as Indian boys and girls are, English books, involving acquaintance with English life, inevitably present tremendous difficulties of understanding. A careful choice of vocabulary and topics must be made at the outset: later, to help Indian children to understand much that occurs in English books, special training will be necessary (2).
Indian students shared similar problems with Hong Kong students, who were not acquainted with the English culture. Yates, however, has suggested some ways in which teachers at the Indian schools could help students have a better understanding of English, for example, by choosing some suitable topics which were relevant to the Indian life. He also touched upon the role of the South Indian Branch of the English
Association: "Transplantation from England to India - the work of this Association - as far as the aid it can give to the schools and the schoolmaster is concerned - must take very different lines and have very different aims from what it has in England" (3). Simpson also mentioned that cultural understanding was important and this might not be done merely through attending lectures, but exposure to the background information like English culture and history. Simpson pointed out that a student would have had difficulties in understanding the overt or indirect references to western civilization embodied in English literature: "When it comes to reading even the simplest works of literature he is in a hopeless predicament, unless he has instruction in the history of social customs and literary tradition in Europe" (1929: 36). He pointed out that "a student of the English
August, 2002. 7 8 language must also be a student of history and of geography. Above all, he must have a knowledge of British history and of social customs in Great Britain and Ireland" (35). He believed that "[the] teacher of English has to be a teacher of everything" (36). To enliven language learning, foreign students had to develop interests in the language and the culture behind it. Simpson pointed out that foreign students had to acquire knowledge of British and even European history through a programme of study. He was aware that for students who belonged to a country on the other side of the world, and were in the process of acquiring knowledge of their own history and social customs, they were faced by a heavy task. For example, Chinese students were expected to have some knowledge of Chinese culture and history, while they were also expected to learn English successfully as a living thing, an organic whole which embodied knowledge of western civilization. This might increase the workload of students, but on the positive side, their worldview, particularly from the perspective of western civilization, was also broadened. In teaching the language to foreign students, Simpson mentioned that people always "assumed there was some short cut to a knowledge of English by which a foreigner may be enabled to read, write and speak English without any of this accessory instruction", in other words, without an understanding of the cultural and historical background of western civilization (1929: 35). If learning about western civilization was essential, students in the colonial setting faced two dilemmas: Why did they have to know much about Britain and its long history specifically, when their knowledge of China was limited? How to make the students feel that they were not merely studying "Britain" when reading English literature? In the English Departmental Report of 1928, Simpson addressed a significant issue concerning English literary studies in Hong Kong. Suggesting that English was an unnatural subject in the Colony, he gave some recommendations on how students could master the subject well and get the most out of their English class with literary studies:
Trying to ensure that appreciation and mastery of the English language grow equally with an extended understanding of western culture, linguistic literary and humanist, through the study of representative masterpieces of English Literature. This is a big but necessary programme of English studies. Universities at home are able to assume that the spoken language has been mastered and a great facility has been acquired in the written language before matriculation, while wide general knowledge and considerable humanist culture is absorbed apart from class instruction. We are not justified in building on such assumptions here. Simpson stressed that literary studies should not be neglected in the curriculum even though students in Hong Kong had to spend more efforts in mastering the language first. He commented in the Departmental Report that it was burdensome for both staff and students in Hong Kong to devote much of their efforts to developing fluency in everyday speech and accuracy in grammatical construction, while in Britain, instruction in literary culture was the usual object of the English classes at universities. Literary studies had a top priority in Simpson's view, which should be taken when students had acquired some English language at basic level. He was aware of the lack of opportunities for students to "absorb the wide and general knowledge and considerable humanist culture" outside the lecture rooms of HKU. For Simpson, western civilization and British culture did not necessarily have to be acquired by Hong Kong students in class. He welcomed suggestions that could help orient students in terms of general knowledge when they approached English literature. He also suggested some methods to guide students to experience the English language and culture as a living thing. Simpson believed that it was important to perceive a language as "vital" when learning it. He mentioned in the Departmental Report of 1931 that for students whose native language was not English, their readiness to handle the language as a living thing depended largely on the amount of "general knowledge" that they possessed. It was important for undergraduates to practise English composition in its varied forms and get first-hand knowledge of the masterpieces of English literature. While it was natural for most British students to perceive their native language as an organic part of their mental system, this was not the case in Hong Kong. To counteract this problem, Simpson believed that students should get access to more "general knowledge" of western civilization in their curriculum at both matriculation and university levels.
Interdisciplinarity: English Literary Studies and "General Knowledge"
At HKU, students were expected to know more about "Britain" as a culture and nation. Students who would like to enjoy reading English literature had to get more background information on British history. To modify A. Gray Jones' question, could we expect students to know about Britain as a nation just because they had taken some courses in English? For the Chinese students in Hong Kong, problems of allusion were "the difficulties arising fiom the fact that [the English language] is modified by the history of people who use it. The British have done a great deal in the world and have gone everywhere, and it has all been incorporated in their language" (Simpson, 1929: 35). The English language was encyclopaedic, and its cultural values seemed to be more accessible to those who lived in that cultural community. While Simpson stressed that English studies was part of a general education of value for all students, he highlighted the importance of English literary studies, not just as part of the study of Britain, but as a means of getting to know about western civilization. This was one way to make English studies appealing to the Chinese, as in some ways, the "Britishness" of the subject was diluted:
[The student] must not only know the history of England but of Europe generally, and as an adjunct to his knowledge of classical lore and bible stories. He soon finds that in addition to a dictionary of meanings, and a pronouncing dictionary, he requires a classical dictionary, a book like Fletcher Allen's Who's W%o in The Bible, a text-book of British History, a world Atlas, and to keep him up-to-date, some such annual publication as The Statesman's Year Book" (1929: 35).
So, if the students were doing their studies conscientiously, they would get access to British history, geography and biblical studies, as well as wider aspects of western civilization through English literary studies. The controversial aspect of this was the arguments used by Simpson in justifying the merits of the understanding of western civilization and British culture for the Chinese students. In the Faculty Report of 1933, the Reader in History also pointed out the "poverty and remoteness of the students' cultural background". In the English Departmental Report of 1934, Simpson commented that students had difficulties in learning English owing to the "meagre general knowledge of candidates". He supported the proposal that an obligatory pass in two out of the following three subjects - History, Geography, Biblical Knowledge in the School Certificate Examination was necessary for students to gain admission to various courses at the University. He pointed out that those three subjects provided a very desirable background of "general knowledge". In the following, I will show what kinds of knowledge students could acquire through studying English literature. In contemporary terms, Simpson believed that English literary studies was interdisciplinary. Moran defines "interdisciplinarity" as "any form of dialogue or interaction between two or more disciplines" (2002: 16). My understanding of "interdisciplinarity" could be seen as an educational ideal. When a subject is taught to students, it is introduced with some knowledge of other academic disciplines in a synthesising and coherent manner. An interdisciplinary subject should be inspiring and "universal" in the sense that it touches upon various modes of knowledge across academia. At its best, students develop a range of perspectives when looking at the world. In the Department Reports, Simpson suggested that English Studies was an interdisciplinary subject. He highlighted the benefits of studying English in addition to its purpose of mastering the language. It was portrayed as a springboard for acquiring western knowledge. Simpson emphasized that students taking English could have access to knowledge of other disciplines. Although HKU was not a Christian university, for example, students had opportunities to read some biblical passages as literary texts. Students taking English courses would have opportunities to read literature about Victorian society or the Roman Empire. Latin and Greek in the classical education performed similar "universal" or humanistic functions. As stated in The Teaching of Classics (1954), a course of Classics, in its widest sense, implied the learning of Greek and Latin, together with some knowledge of the literary and historical backgrounds of Greek and Roman civilizations. To some extent Classics might be taught in a history lesson (15). The term "interdisciplinarity" highlighted the liberal arts nature of both Classics and English literature. Both subjects were believed to broaden the intellectual and cultural perspectives of students. In the case of English literary studies at HKU, the "Britishness" loaded with the subject could be diluted with the idea that "general knowledge" of western civilization, for example, biblical knowledge, European history, philosophy and politics, could be gained through reading English literature. One may argue, however, that the history studied through literature was still mainly the history of England.
Biblical knowledge
Lugard suggested that Christianity was taught to the English boy from his cradle, and he was "the heir to 1900 years of Christian environment" - an environment which permeated all the custom, the law and the social tradition among which he lived, whereas the Oriental boy often had little Christian knowledge.89Students taking English at HKU, of whatever nationality, would be expected to acquire some biblical knowledge through reading literature, given its dense religious allusions. Students also studied the Bible in extracts as literary pieces in order to do textual analysis. Those who took the Matriculation Examination (Ordinary Level) in English Literature in 1954 could choose to attempt questions from the Old Testament selections and the
89 Frederick Lugard. A Suggestion for Discussion by the University Congress of 1912 by Chancellor of the Hong Kong University. 31'' March, 1911. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University ofHong Kong: MiscelIaneous Documents, 1908-1913. s. 1.: s. n. 82 Book of Matthew. The extracts were presented in two versions: the Authorized Version (King James I) and the Douay (Catholic) Version. Students were asked to support their answers with textual details from the version they have studied and no thorough knowledge of the Bible was required. A question asked students to discuss the pros and cons of reading the Bible in Modem English instead of the familiar version in Early Modem English. Another question asked, "What kind of man do you imagine David to have been? Illustrate your character sketch by referring to some of his deeds". There was an obvious parallel with literary questions. For example, "Write a short character study of Michael Henchard in Thomas Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge". Students thus had an opportunity to learn about the Bible but it was read and taught as a branch of English literature.
Literature as Bible
Leavis did not elevate the status of English literature as the top discipline in the academia, but he suggested that English literary studies was full of vitality, giving us a continuity that was not yet dead (1969: 59-60). This was recognition of literature as a more eternal form of belief and a focal point of national culture parallel to Christianity. Moral attributes were given to literary readings which were saturated with biblical allusions. Reed (1996: 100) highlights the didactic similarities between literary production and the Bible: "I will proceed to argue that biblical parallel does offer significant insight into the literary phenomenon". He re-states the belief of Matthew Arnold that literature has a moral role similar to that of the Bible; the study of which is "a disinterested endeavour to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world".g0Literature, in other words, is comparable to the Bible, possessing inherent moral values. For Reed, the Bible is a "book of books", older and more influential than those written by the "representative English poets". It is said to be a great book from which much of the literary canon drew inspiration, for example Blake's "Milton" and Melville's Moby Dick (1996: 116). While Reed points out that a canon is "made up mostly of books authored by deceased, Caucasian Europeans of the male persuasion", he raises the question of whether the Bible belongs to the canon of Western literature (1996: 116) This question is relevant to understanding literary education at HKU. While the Bible has been read as a kind of literary writing, the
Matthew Arnold. "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time." Lectures and Essays in Criticism. Complete Prose Works. Edited by R. H. Super. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1960-77. representative works of English Literature have also been regarded as the canon, a collection of "sacred books" which has achieved an established status. In the colonial context of a secular university, the Bible became relevant not as a theological text for missionary education, but as an integral part of the English literary tradition. Thus the Bible is partially secularized, but equally English literature becomes institutionalized within a semi-sacred canon. It should be noted that literary writings such as the Shakespearean plays and war poetry offered some catharsis for the British who survived during the Second World War. According to These Defenceless Doors, the wartime memoir of Simpson, the writings of Shakespeare, the national playwright of Britain, provided spiritual supports to many prisoners-of-war during their internment in the war-~amps.~~
Bible as Literature
By way of contrast, we can look at the way Gascoyne-Cecil sought to combine English literary teachng with the moral role of Christianity (Changing China, 1911). He mentioned that "the American missions made the very greatest effort to get hold of intelligent Chinese men, both Christian and non-Christian, to teach them western knowledge, so that they might understand how intimately Christianity was connected with Christian thought" (191 1: 16). For example, the Christian Literature Society, with whom Dr. Timothy Richard of the English Baptist Missionary was affiliated, supplied the Chinese with translations of the best Western literature (1911: 16). In addition, the Chinese Commercial Press was founded by the Chinese Christians. Gascoyne-Cecil pointed out that "these two bodies have given China a vast amount of Western literature, the first on philanthropic lines with the definite intention of spreading Christianity, the second on a commercial basis but with the intention of presenting to their fellow-countrymen the purer and more beautiful side of Western thought" (1911: 17). He was told that the publications of these two bodies had reached every educated man in China. Christian literature was seen as an evangelical tool in the Chinese missionary communities; some Chinese also saw biblical reading as a good way to learn the English language. Gascoyne-Cecil cited an example illustrating the influence of the British and Foreign Bible Society and that some Chinese took bible reading as a way to improve their English:
I saw a man smoking opium and reading an English book. As I saw he knew English, I addressed him; under the influence of opium, he was wonderfully communicative. The
See Appendix 1lfor some extracts of Simpson's wartime memoir 84 book twned out to be St. John's Gospel, and he was reading about our Lord's cwification. He had only picked it up because he wanted to improve his English, but hewasdeeplyimpressedbyit [...I. (1911: 214)
Gascoyne-Cecil's illustration suggests a parallel between the similar roles of the Christian literature and English literature, which some Chinese readers tended to approach as a means to improve their English rather than for religious purpose. It also reflects Christian missionary ambivalence about the teaching of English, since the English language was a gateway to commerce and western materialism, as much as to Christianity. Simpson's portrayal of the English teachers in the Far Fast implicitly reveals an intertwining relationship of English literature and Christianity. In his lecture entitled "The Difficulty of English" in 1929, Simpson discussed how the canonical works of English literature helped boost the British teachers7 national pride in teaching the language: "Teachers of English to foreign students are still explorers, navigating a boundless ocean, which is imperfectly charted. Were it not that the sky is bright with the guiding stars of our immortal authors, we should lose our bearings." Using some metaphorical language, Simpson suggested that it was a challenging task for British teachers to teach English to the students in the Colony, for example, they had to modify their teaching methods for an unfamiliar setting. To Simpson, the "immortal authors" like Shakespeare and their literary legacy boosted the national confidence and pride of the teachers when they felt lost in an educational setting dislocated from that of Britain. Simpson regarded "our immortal authors" as the guiding stars of the English teachers, which twinkled in the sky, piloting the English teachers to introduce the subject to the students in the Colony. The religious metaphors suggested that the English teachers in the Colony were like inexperienced adventurers, exploring the "boundless ocean", which was similar to the Magi who were guided by the star to look for Jesus Christ in the manger. The star for the English teachers was the canon of English literature, which morally supported their "missionary" works to introduce western civilization to foreign students despite linguistic and cultural difficulties. Though HKU was a secular university in which theology and biblical studies were not offered in class, ethics was offered as a course in the 1920s. English was a compulsory course for non-Arts students up till 1951, and students fiom the Faculties of Medicine, Engineering and Science also potentially came into contact with the Bible through their English courses. Niblett (1960: 63) described the arts and literature as handmaidens to religion because their system of assumptions belonged to the same order as the assumptions of the religious mind. He suggested that if literature and the arts were cut out of the syllabus of the secondary school, or in our case, that of the university, the chances for students of understanding what Christianity was all about would be greatly reduced.
Historical knowledge
English literary studies at HKU also gave students glimpses of the historical development of Britain, or specifically, England. This was in tune with a trend to treat literature as part of a historical approach, emphasizing both the relationship between literature and history, and the historical study of literature. Historical-literary texts such as the History of the English People and Eminent Victorians were on the undergraduate reading lists.$*In addition, as pointed out by John Millard Newton in his Cambridge PhD (1963: 132), "the study of literature was now the study of the history of English literature". He quoted the words of Mrs. N. K. Chadwick, one of his interviewees who narrated her experience of taking English at Cambridge fiom 1910 to 1914:
According to the new idea it was really not so much a literary study as a historical study. It was historical in the sense that it was thought of as being contained, like general history, in history books. By reading and learning these or attending an equivalent course of lectures that student would come to know the history, in more or less detail [...I the history of literature, continued to be learnt from text-books even when the student was at the same time reading a large number of texts. (134)
Newton pointed out that the historical chronicle (in other words, the history of the monarchy) was valued because it was a chronicle of English greatness. He said that English literature was generally the learning of "dates of authors, the list of their works, and the recognised specialities of their styles" for students. In the case of Hong Kong, I have looked into some sample questions of the English Literature Matriculation Examinations (Ordinary Level) of June, 1954 as there are no records of the examination papers of the English undergraduate courses. Some students were asked to read James Froude's History of England as one of the "literary texts" for the English Matriculation Examination in the 1950s and the following are some choices of question:
'' This can be compared with the texts recommended by the English Association. English Literature in Schools: a List of Authors and Worksfor Successive Stages of Study. English Association pamphlet no. 2 1. New and revised edition. London: English Association, 1948. 86 Q. "Loohng at the state of England as a whole I cannot doubt that under Henry (VIII) the body of the people were prosperous, well-fed, loyal .. ." On what grounds does Froude base such a belief?
Q. "The land of England must provide for the defence of England." Explain how such a policy was implemented under the feudal system.
Q. Under Tudor rule what attempts were made by state or community to safeguard independence of the individual as well as co-operation with others in industry and commerce?
These sample questions look similar to those one might find in a history examination. Students were expected to have an understanding of the history of the monarchy and English history and culture in general after taking the literature course. This was a beneficial side-effect of reading the Froude's volumes on Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. There are also some sample questions taken from the Matriculation Examination (Advanced Level) held in 1955. Students were asked to attempt questions on English life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and these also had a historical dimension:
Q. What have you learned from English Life in the Nineteenth Century, and from any author you have studied, about the English people in Queen Victoria's reign?
Q. How has your knowledge of eighteenth-century life/ nineteenth-century life helped you to appreciate the work of any nineteenth-century author or authors?
Q. What have you learned from Chaucer of any three of the following aspects of English life in the fourteenth-century: hospitality and table manners; the dress and interests of a fashionable young man; a typical scholar; medical knowledge; any one manual worker?
The first two questions expected students to have some knowledge of the English history of the past centuries, such as living conditions in the Victorian era. The Chaucer question looked at various aspects of English life as early as the fourteenth century. Simpson proposed in the departmental report of 1931 that "literature should be supplemented by courses in philosophy and history, to make students familiar with the mental processes and system of ideas which underlie a western language and literature". He suggested that the humanities subjects were like organic parts of a whole, of which the study of literature was inadequate without a mastery of the historical and cultural qualities of the language, well acquired by taking courses in philosophy and history. Philosophy
In the departmental reports, Simpson mentioned that Letters and Philosophy, one of the streams of the Arts curriculum, was a typical "pure arts" stream. This suggests that it was not regarded as practical in nature and most students would not opt for it if they were looking for a curriculum that would be of practical utility. Simpson, however, highly recommended the Letters and Philosophy classes in particular for those who studied or specialized in English language and literature. As the Adviser to the Group of Letters and Philosophy, he proposed the setting up of a Chair in Philosophy in the Arts Fac~lty.~~This illustrates his ideal of a "general education" in the Arts curriculum, in which the disciplines of philosophy, history and literature would be intertwined so that the student would acquire a better understanding of western civilization. He proposed that a full four-year course in a western language and literature should be supplemented by courses in philosophy and history, so as to make students familiar with the underlying mental process and system of ideas.
English across Curriculum
Simpson was strongly in favour of students fi-om the Engineering, Medicine and Science Faculties taking English courses to broaden their cultural interests. The present inter-faculty broadening courses of HKU, which started in the academic year 1999-2000, can be seen as exemplikng his educational ideal. In this sense, Simpson was well ahead of his time in the curriculum development of the University. As early as in 1933, he reported that additional classes in English were provided for students studying in the Engineering Faculty and the justification for the engineers and doctors to take English for a year in a university was to help them develop a broader and more cultured outlook. One of the questions Simpson raised in the Report of 1932-33 concerned with the English course for non-Arts students:
Do students who are going to pass on to the study of medicine and engineering require the same preliminary English training as is admittedly suitable for those who are going to take the full course of the Arts Faculty curriculum? This is a disputed point but the prevailing opinion in England and America is in favour of the same preliminary course for all. The logic of the situation would seem to support this view. The justification for training engineers and doctors in a University is that they should acquire something more than professional knowledge and skill - something of the broader and more cultured outlook which a University is designed to give.
93 Quinquennial Report on the Work of the University (1934-38). See Appendix 12 for the grouping of
88 Simpson was a great proponent of the inter-faculty English course and in the report of 1933-34, he pointed out once again how English studies could be offered to non-Arts students in two directions, language or literary-oriented:
The main aim of English classes at the beginning of a university course, whether for students of arts or of science, is to provide a linguistic training which will enable students to express themselves, in writing and in speaking, not merely with grammatical correctness but with order and effect. There is also the aim of providing the foundations of literary culture. This second aim entails the study of books which are literary masterpieces. There are, however, some teachers who think that this second aim is not necessary in English classes for students of science. This is not the view usually taken in Great Britain and America. The view taken in these countries, is well expressed by [Frank Aydelotte] in his book on "English and Engineering7' [1917], where he says "The idea with which the engineering student and his English teacher can most profitably deal are those embodied not in his technical engineering subjects but in literature [. . .] to furnish something of the liberal, humanising, and broadening element which is more and more felt to be a necessary part of an engineering education". If this view is held to be correct, then there need be very little difference made between the English classes provided at the beginning of a university course for students of arts, and those provided for students at the same stage in science. But if the other view is to prevail, it will be necessary for its advocates to bring forward books on elementary science, written in English worthy to displace the works of literature universally considered suitable for Univerity English classes.
Simpson focussed on the issue of the kinds of English courses that should be offered to non-Arts students in order to achieve a balance between professional training and broad cultural education. Should their English classes be the same as those of the Arts students? He was inclined to agree with Aydelotte's view that reading English literature was the best means to learn the language at both practical and cultural levels and non-Arts students were recommended to take English courses along with the Arts students. Simpson, however, also made sure that the English course could complement the curriculum of the Engineering and Science students: "How far can the teaching of English be modified in the first year to suit the needs of students whose university work is to be directed to science?" In this, he made a compromise in the design of the English curriculum to cater for the needs of some non-Arts students. English set books of specific disciplinary interest were included. For example, those from the economic and business streams could read Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations or other suitable Economics classics respectively, substituting for an equivalent amount of the required readings. In 1919-20, students taking the Teacher's Course had to read Herbert Spencer's Principles of Education instead of Robert Louis Stevenson's
-- - -- subjects in the Arts Faculty and the syllabus of the English Department. 89 Treasure Island. The commercial students, apart fi-om taking the Intermediate Course in English, received instruction in the use of English for commercial purpose. The practice book they used was Rose Buhlig's Business English. All these showed the Department's efforts to cater both for the professional training and mastery of English, apart from developing students' literary sensibility. As Patrick Yu (BA 1942) recalled, Chinese classes, however, were only available for Arts students and the science students did not have to attend any. The University put more emphasis on the English language, perhaps to ensure that students had the ability to attend classes conducted in English. Above all, an English-speaking environment was seen as useful in enhancing students' identification with English culture and way of life. The English courses offered by the Department were interdisciplinary in two senses: firstly, they were intended to introduce "general knowledge" to students alongside the study of English language and literature. Secondly, the courses were offered to both Arts and non-Arts students across disciplines up till 1951, by coincidence the year Simpson retired from his teaching post.
English for Science, Engineering and Medical Students
There were some changes in the English curriculum for the Science and Engineering students and, in this section, I will illustrate the kind of English courses that were offered to them. Simpson once mentioned that English courses should also be offered to medical students, but it seemed that this was not carried out. In 1932-33, Simpson reported that additional classes in English were offered to students of the Engineering Faculty. The Board of the Faculty of Medicine was also anxious to make the study of English a compulsory part of the pre-medical course. He regarded such demands as involving the expansion of the English Department and that it had to modify the first year English course to suit the needs of some arts students whose university work was to be directed to science.94In the Report of 1934-38, Simpson added that it was compulsory for the Engineering students to attend the First Year English classes unless they were granted exemption by the Board of the Faculty of Engineering. Exemption could be earned by attaining a sufficiently high standard of English in the matriculation examination, suggesting that the prime concern was the level of English required in coping with the curriculum, rather than the provision of a broad education. This might be a consideration in the tight schedule of the
94 The Faculty of Science was set up in 1939. Before that, the science courses were included in the Arts curriculum. 90 Engineering curriculum. In 1939-40, not long before Hong Kong fell under Japanese occupation (1941), it was reported that the number of English lectures for science students was reduced to three per week. Engineering students entering the University on examinations other than Hong Kong Matriculation were tested in English to qualifj. for exemption fkom English lectures. After the end of the Second World War, the University was reopened in 1946. The Annual Report of the University of that academic year showed the class size and composition of students in the first year English class. As fkom 21StOctober, 1946, htyear English classes in certain subjects were offered in re-conditioned University classrooms. The following bar chart shows the number of students attending First Year English fiom various faculties, including those external students. The admission of the "external students" showed the popularity of Enghsh courses at the post- matriculation level. They were those who passed the matriculation but did not aim to study for a degree. They provided a good source of income for the University as they had to pay tuition fees, but had no privileges of tutorial supervision. They could employ a private tutor fkom the University at their own expense."
HKU Students taking First Year English in 1946 A
Arts W8,,,#Extend Sirnpson reported that there were also varying numbers of prospective medical students attending English classes hrthe greater part of the academic year. They had commenced as students of Science, pending various examinations which they took to strengthen their basic matriculation certificates to meet requirements of the General Medical Council. The Report stated that the pre-war arrangements were resumed, by which all students of the Science Faculty attended three English lectures a week, in their first and second year, and took the required examinations; while students of Engineering took courses in English leading to an examination at the end of their first
The Department of Extra-mural Studies was formally instituted in 1957. See Appendix 13 for the English literary courses offered in the Department of Extra-mural Studies in 1961. year, unless they were exempted by high attainment in the English papers of the Hong Kong Matriculation. Or if they entered by other examinations for which their English marks were not available, they had to attain an exemption standard in a special test in English held early in the session.
Specialization of English Degree In the academic year of 1950-5 1, there were a total of one hundred and sixty nine students taking English across curriculum (see the chart below). The chart shows that the science students formed a significant enrolment in the first year English course.
Total Number of Students taking English co1uses,1950-51
H Science
First year Second Year Third Year Fourth year
From September 1951 onwards, however, English was no longer a compulsory subject for the first and second year Science students and the htyear Engineering students. According to the Departmental Report of 1949-50, there was also a change hma four-year course to a three-year course for the pass degree, and the institution of a four-year course for an honours degree, which was expected to come into force in 1951. The Report of 1953-54 showed that the BA Honours degree was offered to two female candidates: Ng Shun Wah and Yip Yau Shin in that academic year. This specialization in the English degree and the end of compulsory English courses for non-Arts students suggests that the University was encouraging greater professionalization of knowledge. It worth noting, however, that today "Introduction to English Studiesyyhas become one of the inter-faculty electives for all first year Social Sciences students, fifty years after Simpson's retirement. The University is now attempting to revive the educational ideal of "interdisciplinaritfyin the sense of cross-curriculum. Conclusion
The teaching of English at HKU involved an uneasy compromise between the demands of practicality and those of education in a broad, cultural sense. The study of English served practical needs as English was the medium of instruction across the university and the teaching of English played a role in facilitating this, and also in the importance of a training in English studies for various careers, in particular teaching. As an education in culture, English also played a central role in this "British" university, but the specificity of "Englishness" was modified to a degree by its presentation within a historical framework, and by emphasizing the relationship between English literature and a general knowledge of Western culture. In the University today, the Department no longer concentrates on "English literature" narrowly defined, and English Studies is certainly not the study of "Britain". This reflects the expansion of literary critical studies, in particular postcolonial theory. However, English Studies remains an interdisciplinary subject, both in the sense that English Studies touches upon various modes of knowledge across the curriculum, such as Anthropology, Architecture and History, and as a subject with potentially an important role in the current curriculum reforms in the university. Chapter 4 English Studies: Ideology and Practicality
Introduction
A great deal of critical attention has been paid to the rise of English in relation to social class in Britain. Some focus on the nationalistic ideal of the discipline (Leavis, 1948 and 1969; Hoggart, 1957; Williams, 1959; Palmer, 1965; Inglis, 1969; Gikandi, 1996 and Court, 1992 & 2001) while its claims to universality and classlessness have also been discussed (Enright, 1969; Inglis, 1969). English as a national discourse has been explored in Chapter 1, with reference to the objectives of the English Association. The interdisciplinarity of English within the liberal arts, seemingly at least in part "denationalized", has also been discussed in Chapter 3, taking the curriculum of HKU English Department under the headship of Simpson as a case study. This concluding chapter attempts to examine broadly the ideology and practicality of the study of English as an Arts subject at the institutional level. English language and literature have been given a special place in the curriculum after the Second World War. I will examine how the Arts education and English were perceived in general and at HKU when compared to other non-Arts disciplines such as Medicine and Engineering. The positioning of the study of English was particularly ambiguous at the colonial university. On the one hand, English was regarded as a key to the rich English literary treasure, western knowledge and civilization. In the case of Hong Kong, it was mostly perceived as a practical subject of language training, for which a good mastery of English was indispensable in taking any university subject. On the other hand, English literary studies in particular was looked down upon as a "Mickey Mouse" subject which merely "chatter[ed] on Shelley", a soft-option subject involving the development of a particular sensibility. It was regarded as an elitist subject for the privileged who did not have to worry about practical or commercial matters. "Gendered" metaphors were often borrowed to juxtapose the "sensibility" of Arts and the "sense" of the scientific disciplines. However, the implied gender binary contrast between "male sense" and "female sensibilityy7cannot be applied in a simplistic way to English studies, as it also reflects an internal debate about the scientific or objective status of the discipline. While literary studies is associated with "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" (William Wordsworth, Lyrical Ballads), literary critics at various times also sought objectivity (variously understood) 94 or to apply putatively scientific methods borrowed from Psychology or Linguistics to the study of literary texts in the twentieth century. One can cite examples of Marxist theory, I. A. Richards' Practical Criticism in the 1920s, and the impact of structural linguistics on literary theory in the 1970s. This conflict between objectivity and sensibility can be seen in the career of Edmund Blunden at HKU, who became the Professor of English in 1953. The decade he spent in the English Department has been evoked as a Golden Age, with Blunden's literary passion for Romanticism and his English "sensibility". I argue that though Blunden was the successor of Simpson, he seemed to belong to a literary period "out of time". In view of a timeline, Simpson's Headship of the English Department covered the period of "high colonialism" (1920- 1951), but Blunden appeared to be the one who had greater literary aspirations in respect of "English sensibility", which he arguably failed to fulfil in the mid 1950s and the early 1960s of the Hong Kong society. His literary-poetic approach and "Englishness" seemed out-of-step both with political and social developments in Hong Kong (and in Britain for that matter), and with the evolving discipline of literary criticism. In Blunden's case, he found the objective or practical challenge to his version of literary studies in the disciplinary split with linguistics, which had been encouraged by Simpson for its useful pedagogical role. Linguistics also potentially was a rival to traditional literary studies, and this trend emerged in the 1970s with the rise of stylistics. Blunden resented the encroachment of linguistics at the expense of literary studies during the early 1960s, around the years of his retirement (Webb: 1990,305). Linguistics as a putative science offered a challenge to literary studies, even moving into domains like stylistics to offer alternative modes of reading literary texts. The study of English linguistics and general linguistics was perceived as less culturally loaded than the study of literature, and also as requiring little or no knowledge of British literature, culture and society, as linguistics was a structural and ahistorical science which viewed language systems as autonomous entities. In the context of Hong Kong, linguistics also offered potential insight into language learning, and as a comparative discipline could be used to help Cantonese learners understand the differences between Chinese and English. But these very features of linguistics as a more successful quasi-universal discourse than English studies made it unpalatable to traditional literary critics. It was to them a barbarian discipline, or a pseudo-science, which sought to replace the traditional literary critic who had acquired through long training a literary sensibility which was shaped by a position in a national discourse and history.
Ambiguous Status of English studies
Special Place of English Language and Literature
In the post-war era, English language and literature as a subject was given a special place, as shown in the Report of the Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies, presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Parliament in June, 1945. The Committee was chaired by the Honourable Mr. Justice Asquith. Other notable members include Dame Lillian Margery Penson (1896-1 963)96,Margery Perham, who published the diaries of Frederick Lugard in 1959 and H. J. Channon, a member of the West Afkica Commission. The Committee was concerned with the provision of higher education in the Colonial Empire, particularly in Africa and the West Indies after the end of the Second World War. According to the Report, there were only four institutions of higher education, which had the status of universities in the Colonial Empire - the Royal University of Malta (constituted in 1769), the University of Hong Kong, the Ceylon University College (founded 1921) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (opened in 1925). The recommendations of the Report are useful in understanding how the development of colonial education was envisaged in Hong Kong. The Report discussed the roles of the Arts and the Science Faculties, the medium of instruction and the linguistic problems. In the following, I will discuss its recommendations on the Arts Faculty and the special place of English education, which offer some insight into how the role of the HKU English Department was perceived:
Considerable variation is possible in the selection of subjects which might be included in a Faculty of arts, and we do not propose to comment upon all those fi-om which the choice might be made. Some, however, seem to us essential, and among them one must have a special place, English language and literature. This special place arises from the fact that in many areas English will be the medium of instruction while at the same time it is not the inherited language of common speech. Where these conditions prevail deparbnents of English should be specially strengthened. The teaching of this subject will involve the detailed instruction normal in departments of foreign languages in this country, and it is important for this purpose that additional members should be appointed to the staff. We refer in chapter XX to the advisability of a special study of phonetics. The subject of English will be for many students the readiest means of
96 Penson was the Professor of Modern History in London and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London (1948-1 95 1). She was the fist female Vice-Chancellor of a Commonwealth university. She acknowledged the work done by the HKU English Department at the meeting of the Hong Kong University Advisory Committee in March, 1946 (BW901585). See discussion in the next section. access to the study of literature, and it is essential therefore that its teaching should be maintained at a level comparable to that of university courses in this country. While therefore we consider that the appointment of a professor of English language and literature is essential in every university institution, we should also maintain that he should be given an adequate staff qualified in various branches of the work of the department. (1945: 16)
Since English was the medium of instruction at universities whereas most students spoke their "inherited language of common speech", supporting measures were required for a more effective teaching of English, such as the appointment of more staff members and emphasis on phonetics studies. The Report also stated that "it would be convenient to assume that the special need for the teaching of English could be met by the neglect of other languages" (16). In fact, the Committee encouraged students to study other European languages and those "native" languages spoken in the colonies as well:
In certain areas the linguistic background makes it desirable that the study of those classical and modem languages which are appropriate to the region should have a prominent place in the curriculum. Wherever these conditions prevail we should recommend strongly that full provision for the teaching of these languages should be made. In others there may be a place for the study of linguistics [. . .] Further we would consider it essential that provision should be made for the study of at least one European language other than English. The close inter-relation of European literatures would be a sufficientjustification in itself for ths recommendation [...I. (1945: 16)
This echoes a theme from the gestation years of HKU, when Lugard pointed out the university's mission to recognize and develop the study of the Chinese language and culture, affirming that it would not be discarded in a colonial institution.
Recognition of the Work of HKU English Department
In 1946, the University Advisory Committee highlighted the "primacy of English and the significance of having a sound Department of English" in its draft minute of the Committee meeting dated 4thMarch, acknowledging the work of the Department:
The Committee unanimously supported the view of the special place of English in the University studies. Professor [Lillian M.] Penson said that we must regard English in Hong Kong University as having the importance of Latin in earlier days in Western universities. [Mr. Duncan Sloss] claimed that the superiority of achievement in English in Hong Kong schools was in large measure due to the work done in the past generation by the English Department of the University and that the standard of English in Hong Kong was at least a year ahead of that achieved in China?'
- 97 BW 90158. Hong Kong University Advisory Committee. Draft minutes (confidential) of the third meeting of the Committee held in the Conference Room at the Colonial Office, Downing Street. Dated 4' March, 1946. This comment illustrates the centrality of the English language in much of the rhetoric of the University from its founding to the present. Similar rhetoric can be found in Lugard7s speech given during the laying of the Foundation Stone of HKU on 16~~ March, 1910 - "When Latin was the language of the savants and of scientific literature - none would be more suitable than English" which placed English in parallel with the unifying language of the Christian ~orld.~~Asthe Public Records reveal, the English standard attained at HKU was quite high in the 1940s. In the Report of the HKU Relief Work in "Free China" during the period 16Ih October, 1942 to 31'' December, 1943, Gordon King, the former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, pointed out that
Academically the Hong Kong students have, as a general rule, made good progress, especially in institutions where English is the main medium of instruction. Some of the students have been handicapped in courses which are given entirely in Chinese as they have never previously lived in Mandarin speaking areas. Whilst all Hong Kong students speak Cantonese fluently, some of them (particularly those from Malaya) have a relatively poor knowledge of Mandarin, which is the official teaching medium of all Chinese Universities. 99
The Report also mentioned that in the National Essay Competition (in English) open to students from all universities in China, both first and second prizes went to Hong Kong students (to Ooi Kee Saik and Hooi Cheng Weng respectively, both were enrolled in the Shanghai Medical College during the War). Also, a number of Engineering graduates were in "Free China" and several of them intended to proceed to England under the apprenticeship scheme of the Federation of the British Industries. King pointed out that on account of the good knowledge of English of the Hong Kong graduates, and their possession of the other requisite qualifications, these students made very acceptable candidates for the posts. Besides, an academic link with Oxford University was also established in 1940 when the Rhodes Trust offered to provide a sum of £1,000 to enable one or more Chinese or Chinese-British graduates from Hong Kong University to proceed to Oxford. Rayson Huang and Leung Man Wah were the first holders of the Studentship. Though the English Department played a symbolic role in teaching English across the curriculum in the pre-Second World War years, literary studies in particular has been sometimes perceived as ornamental, impractical, even feminized, when compared with Medicine and Engineering as a branch of the Arts education. While
98 Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. 99 FO 37 1141638. Dated 29" February, 1944. the scientific disciplines could claim to make an immediate beneficial impact on society, the study of the English language was the key both to English literature and western civilization and knowledge. This view of the study of English, however, came to be contested more seriously in the post-war, post-colonial era, and the development of English studies was increasingly shaped by scepticism about the rhetoric of cultural value and improvement. The student publications and the university documents provided good sources for understanding the students and staff members' perception of the cultural values of the Arts education and the study of English since the 1920s to the post-Second World War years. Arts education will be discussed as well since English was a branch of the Arts and its humanistic values were recognized.
University's Perception of Arts and the English Discipline
Targeted at Practical Utility
The main consideration of the founding of HKU and its Faculty of Arts was for "practical utility", and the cultural mission of the university has also been emphasized. As early as 1908, Lugard pointed out that
[...I the objects of such a University will be to afford a higher education, more especially in subjects of practical utility, such as applied science, medicine, etc., on the lines of such Universities as Leeds and Birmingham, and to confer degrees of a standard not inferior to those conferred by such Universities in Great Britain [...I to extend the knowledge of the English language in the Far East.'''
As Endacott (1962: 29) pointed out, Lugard outlined his idea of HKU again in a meeting on 29th October, 1908, expressing that the University should be modelled on
Birmingham rather than on Oxford and Cambridge. lo' "Even a Degree in Arts", Lugard emphasized this in the meeting, "if we should decide to establish one later for the sons of gentry who aim at official posts, should include subjects of practical utility: International Law and Treaties, Geography, Comparative History and I would add, the Chinese Language and Classics". Sir Francis Henry May, who later succeeded Lugard as the Governor of Hong Kong, commented that the University subscribers, "the bulk
lw Minutes of a meeting with reference to a proposed Hongkong University, Hong Kong, 131h March, 1908. Frederick Lugard, 1907- 12. 101 In a copy of memorandum submitted by Lord Lugard to the Universities China Committee on HKU in September, 1931, the founder of the University, however, stated that HKU was "afiliated to Oxford and Cambridge" (CO 129/531). This suggests that in three decades time, the University has established better academic networking with these ancient British universities. He did not elaborate on the kind of affiliation, but the appointment of Oxford graduates as teaching staff was very common in the 1930s. of whom will be Chinese", wanted to have a university where the Chinese could obtain qualifications as Doctors and Engineers that would be recognized in the Colony and outside of it. In this, a university was expected to provide professional education and May suggested that the Chinese were more concerned with the training of Doctors and Engineers than the Arts graduates who possessed no professional qualifications upon their graduation.lO'This suggests that the parents showed more respect for and laid more emphasis on the practical subjects and the University also paid more attention to the practicality of the Arts Faculty. According to the University Calendar in 1913, the Faculty of Arts was "intended chiefly for students who desire to adopt an official career or to go into commerce [. ..] The courses also provide a good training for a teacher, and will no doubt be used for that purpose". Speaking at the thrd Congregation in January, 1919, the acting Vice-Chancellor Dr. G. P. Jordan urged that a major role of the Faculty of Arts should be "the training of teachers who would go to China and there form higher grade schools and technical institutions, which would gradually form into University Colleges and finally lead up to this University" (Harrison, 1962b: 47).
Appointment of Vice-Chancellor from Arts
The Colonial Government was aware of the importance of expanding the Arts Faculty. Claud Sevem, the Colonial Secretary, wrote a confidential note about the "Special Qualifications desirable for the post of Vice-Chancellor of HKU" in 1920. Here are a few qualifications he listed:
1. It is considered desirable by the Council of the University that the Vice-Chancellor should be a Knight Grand Cross or Knight Commander of one of the Orders or a Knight Bachelor, as such rank gives him a certain prestige with the Chinese Community.
2. Great stress is also placed on the possession of a reputation and standing in the Scholastic world. It is naturally of considerable importance that the Vice- Chancellor should be a man of high academic distinction, and I would say myself that the possession of a Degree in classics, history or English Literature would be preferable to a degree in Science or Mathematics, as he can exercise considerable influence in the training for the Arts course.
3. An interest in Orrental Studies is essential, and the person selected should also understand that, if not already acquainted with Classical Chinese, he should be prepared to devote time to its study. He would have ample time for this during the long vacation.
102 Frederick Lugard. "Notes to accompany resolutions submitted by Mr. May." Minutes of a meeting with reference to a proposed Hongkong University, Hong Kong, 1908. 100 4. Attention has been drawn recently to a want of discipline among the members of staff of the University. It is, therefore, desirable that the Vice-Chancellor should possess administrative ability, combined with tact and force of character.'03
Sir William Brunyate, who succeeded G. P. Jordan as the third HKU Vice- Chancellor (1 92 1-24), was described as a man with a fine mathematical record.'" The expectation that the Vice-Chancellor would be a scholar specializing in Humanities was repeatedly raised after the end of the Second World War. In the memorandum "A New Hong Kong University" dated 1945, G. A. C. Herklots, a Reader in Biology and a "HKU staff member since 1928", wrote, "By far the most important appointment is that of Vice-Chancellor [. . .] I consider that he should be a scholar of Classics, Philosophy, English or History and not a This memorandum was taken from a report submitted to the Vice-Chancellor Duncan Sloss when he was in the prisoner-of-war camp. Herklots listed some similar qualifications expected from the new Vice-Chancellor succeeding Sloss, when Lindsay Ride, specializing in Medicine, took over the post in 1949. R. K. M. Simpson was also short-listed for the Vice- chancell~rship.~~~The post was again not taken up by some traditional scholarlistic men who specialized in literature or history such as Sir Charles Eliot, the first Vice- Chancellor. Sir Charles was a sinologist, who had published widely on Buddhism and Hinduism and could speak twenty-seven languages fluently, including Chinese (Blunden, 1962: 38). The Succession List of Vice-Chancellors shows that most of them specialized in scientific and medical fields, except for Sir William Hornell, the Vice-Chancellor (1924-37), who contributed to the early development of Chinese education at HKU and Wang Gung Wu, the Vice-Chancellor (1986-95) and a distinguished historian. Severn's note also shows that the Vice-Chancellors were expected to be knighted and to be men of high academic status in the early 1920s. In his personal letter to Swire with reference to the criticisms of HKU and the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor, dated 4th April, 1920, W. J. Hinton, the Dean of the Arts Faculty (1914-23), claimed that "The Chinese are essentially hero- worshippers, greatly attracted by a great name, though they will demand also a sympathy with their national aspirations when the man is installed".Io7This shows the
Io3 CO 87711. "Special qualifications desirable for the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong." A Confidential note written by Claud Severn. Dated 27" September, 1920. I" "The Vice Chancellorship" By R. Ponsonby Fane. HKU Union Magazine. March, 1933. Anniversary Issue. p. 17. lo' co 10451470 Io6 CO 10451475. Summary of Candidates for the Vice-Chancellorship of the University of Hong Kong. Io7 FO 22813201. W. J. Hinton's personal letter to Swire, with reference to the criticisms of Hongkong University. Dated 4" April, 1920. candidates for the Vice-chancellorship should have some Oriental interests in this colonial context.
Neglect of Liberal Arts Education
In the early 1920s, the Faculty was nevertheless criticized for focusing too much on training students for their career prospects, and neglecting the liberal arts education and its significance in promoting cultural understanding:
"Since the War," the Vice-Chancellor Sir William Brunyate remarked in his inauguration speech in April, 1921, "we have created what is practically a Faculty of Education; we are committed to what is practically a Faculty of Commerce". But he pointed out, much more could be done in the development of cultural studies [...] "If we are to take advantage of our exceptional position I think we are bound to make a most serious attempt to do something towards finding a way to mutual understanding between the two civilisations, and that, I think, will mainly be done in the arts subjects." (Hamson, 1962c: 128)
Sir William Hornell, the Vice-Chancellor (1924-37), reported on the development of the University in 1933. He pointed out "the troubled history of the Faculty of Arts - a faculty brought prematurely into the world to live literally from hand to mouth during the vital years of its infancy, when it should have been acquiring strength" (Harrison, 1962c: 129). Again in the following year, Hornell warned that "one of the greatest dangers against which the University of Hong Kong must ever be on its guard is the tendency to starve its humanistic studies, for the development of its professional and technical training". He pointed out that the Arts Faculty was overshadowed by the Faculties of Medicine and Engineering in the allocation of funding, since the latter deal with social infrastructure and matters of life and death. According to Harrison (1962~:129), a Committee was appointed to report on the University in 1937. This Report listed out some justifications for the prime role of the Arts Faculty as one of the founding faculties of University. Ios However, it also acknowledged the University's emphasis of the professional scientific faculties at the expense of liberal arts studies:
The Arts Faculty seems to us to have attached itself like some unwanted stepbrother to those two scientific faculties which, to the founders at least, gave such promise of a sturdy manhood [. ..] it appears that the arts degree is now considered to be little more than the crowning of Hong Kong's secondary education for those whose parents can
'08 For more information on the justification of a Faculty of Arts at HKU, please refer to the Memorandum of the Faculty of Arts endorsed and approved by the Senate at its meeting on 10" March, 1938, on University (1937) Report, Paragraph 53 and 61. Hong Kong Government Report Online. (1853-1941) afford it, together with a certain number from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.
The Committee Report (1937) suggested that the cultural significance of the Arts degree had not been established and that it was like a luxury subject for the children of the upper-middle class. It was considered by some as just one step forward from the secondary school education or mere "spoon-feeding" as Patrick Yu commented. In July, 1939, the Vice-Chancellor Duncan Sloss wrote to Mr. Beresford of the
University Grant Committee, lamenting that HKU had a "spiritless Faculty of Arts". log The 1953 University Report (Jennings and Logan 's Report) showed the inferior status of the Faculty in the post Second World War years:
We have heard adverse comments on the quality of some of the students in [the Arts Faculty]. It is the least favoured of the Faculties because the prospects of employment for its graduates are not good, or at least are thought by the students not to be good. Since there is ample accommodation there is no selection of students; inferior students rejected by other Faculties are accepted; and students are allowed to repeat courses after failures. (1 8)
This report showed that those who saw university education as a kind of professional training for career purposes would not choose Arts as their first priority. Jennings and Logan even suggested that the expensive university education should be made "more accessible to the poorer students - who would usually be Arts students", suggesting that the tuition fee for Arts was lower than that of the Faculties of Medicine and Engineering (28). The following section illustrates more about the Arts education and the feedback of some staff members and students on the courses offered by the Faculty, in particular the English classes, as recorded in the student publications.
Student and Staff Perceptions of Arts and the English courses
The Hongkong University Union Magazine is a good source for understanding the students' life in the first fifiy years of the University. It contains articles written by both staff members and students concerning campus life and other academic topics.liO
First year Arts Course
Concerning the Arts education, there was an article entitled "The First Year Arts Course and Some Spot Questions", submitted by "The Captious Critic" in 1923."'
'* FO 371123519 'I0 See Appendix 14 for two sample articles concerning undergraduate English literary studies at HKU in the 1950s. I" The Hong Kong University Union Magazine. January, 1923. Vol. 1, No. 3. p. 8-9. "The Captious Critic" - apparently a staff member - evaluated the status of the Arts Faculty:
The First Year Arts crowd consists of about three score new recruits from the various schools and colleges of the Far East. They are not of primary importance in the University, but under the new regulations the enormous variety of subjects offered makes their course very interesting.
Using the word "crowd" suggests that the enrolment of the Arts Faculty was probably the highest at HKU, but that the students were not treated with great respect. The author of the article had the impression that the Arts students were not seen as important assets of the University, when compared with the Medical and Engineering students who could make an immediate impact on society. The article also showed a wide variety of subjects available to the Arts students. The following was about the first year English course, which gave a sketch of the English literary and linguistics classes offered to students from a teacher's point of view:
The main subject is English, which is taken by all first year Arts students. There are several set books, a course of Phonetics and some other general topics. Therefore sometimes they will seem to be attending debates in the British Parliament, sometimes they will be seated on a crag of Switzerland or wandering over Europe. On other occasions they are incredulous when asked to picture to themselves how the vocal organs move to produce what is called speech [...I. (8)
Heavy Workload of Arts Students
W. J. Hinton, the Professor of Political Economy and the former Dean of Arts, pointed out the heavy workloads of students in an article entitled "Some Suggestions on the Use of the Long Vacation" in 1928.'12 He stressed at the beginning of the article that "perhaps it would also be well to confine these remarks to the Faculty of Arts, since arrangements which suit one Faculty may not suit another" (58). He proposed that it would be a good idea for the Final Year Arts students to join a summer course overseas, at best "to retire themselves every summer to some relatively fresh and invigorating spot and live a life of moderate intellectual and physical activity in simple surroundings". He attempted to compare the piles of required literary texts that students had to read with the refreshing intellectual experience students could gain from the summer course. Hinton believed that an enlightening study experience overseas could liberate the students from their busy readings during the semesters or in the summer. He also suggested the University to give the Arts students a period of "incubation" to finish all the readings before the examinations:
If this were done our students would be able to escape from that bondage to one or two texts in which most of them unfortunately are fast held at present. The usual amount of reading of a competent English undergraduate at present seems to most of them an impossible requirement [. . .] give more time in reading in term [. . .I. At least it would give the student wrestling with the difficulties of a foreign language time to straighten out his ideas before he was required to prove their existence to a sceptical examiner. (60)
R. K. M. Simpson, the Professor of English, reminded his students to study hard with some lyrics he wrote for "A Song" - to suit the music written by Lau Man Hin for the University Union in the early 1930s:
If you want the academic stuff that earns a pass, You may perhaps absorb enough by listening in a class.
Books! Books! Books! Get down to them and swot. Notes! Notes! Notes! Swallow the whole job lot. Cram! Cram! Cram! Until you find you've got Brain fag, a screw loose, bats in the belfi-y, slates off the top.'I3
As recalled by Patrick Yu (BA 1942), most of his classmates, including himself, seldom read reference books, not to mention the required readings. Only a few bright classmates did some extra reading. Nevertheless, Yu thought highly of Simpson because the Professor did try to encourage his students to achieve more by following up with further reading and through their own research, rather than just listen to him in class.
Soft-option "Mickey Mouse" Subject
Another article entitled "An Apology of Arts", presumably written by an arts student, was published in the HKU Union Magazine in 1937. It was a thoughtful defence of the Arts education at HKU where arts students were looked down upon by some Engineering and Medical students:
"Oh, he is another of those arts people. Always free in the afternoon!" "You mean the arts course? It's so easy, you know. I' m sure I can pass it without studying." Such and similar sayings have I heard times without number in the hostel. Then again, at the last
Hong Kong University Union Magazine. November, 1928. p. 58-60. "'Lyrics extracted from "A Song", collected in Simpson's Diversions. 1933. congregation ceremony, someone at the sight of the large gathering of arts graduates turned to me and observe sardonically, "Look! What mass production! Less than ten M. B. B. S., but a flock of B. A.'s."
The writer pointed out that the very mention of the Arts course was greeted with scorn and contempt at HKU. Most of the students, especially those from overseas, regarded Arts education as "cheap" or "the easiest course on earth", and "will have nothing to do with it". Humanities subjects, in their eyes, could not produce cars, roads, bridges, and televisions, nor could they save lives as the Medical students did. Arts education was at times considered as a failure when measured against the criterion of "practical utility", ironically one of the founding principles of the Arts Faculty, apart from its success in training teachers. How about the discipline of English? In Britain, as Moran (2002: 20) pointed out, English was often looked down upon as a "Mickey Mouse" subject, an easy option for the less able students when compared to more traditional disciplines such as Classics and Philosophy. In 1887, E. A. Freeman, the Regius Professor of History at Oxford, opposed the establishment of an English School there on the grounds that "English literature is only chatter about Shelleyy', and that "we do not want ... subjects which are merely light, elegant, interesting. As subjects for examination, we must have subjects in which it is possible to examine" (Moran, 2002: 23, citing Graff, 1989: 123; Milner, 1996: 4). Why do students have to take courses on reading novels and poetry when reading is a skill mastered by every literate person? At HKU, there were however other voices contesting this negative view of Arts education and the subject of English. While English linguistics could be studied as an objective science, examining how sounds were produced with the vocal organs and illustrating syntax with tree diagrams, literary studies was considered to be more subjected to intuition, spontaneity and imagination. While doing linguistics analysis required skills and logic, the idea of "literary appreciation" might have denied the critical reading skills or given the illusion that readers did not need any skills in reading literature. It was true that sensitivity to literary language was essential for reading literature and this "skill" could be developed by reading broadly. In this, literary studies was not simply appreciation. With the rise of Practical Criticism in the 1920s, the importance of textual analysis was foregrounded. Close reading skills were taught to analyze texts on the page for insighthl and critical readings. Edmund Blunden -Literary Guard of English Department
Edmund Blunden was the Professor of English and the Head of the HKU English Department from 1953 to 1964."' The question of the value of the English language and its literature hung over his tenure of the Chair, with the sense that literature, if it was read by the Chinese, was usually a means for learning the language, while some still perceived the subject as a way to read into a "foreign" culture, or as Blunden expressed, in his Inaugural Lecture, 1954, the set syllabus of English always had "one leisure-hour value". In contrast to the practical educationalist, Simpson, the cultural- literary aspirations and views of teaching at HKU of Blunden were mainly revealed in his correspondence and a few of his public speeches.IT5As a Romantic poet and critic, Blunden was tied to the "sensibility" of rural England. His literary experiences in Hong Kong and Japan could be seen as a retreat fkom his disillusionment caused by the First World War and its socio-political consequences, and a desire to recreate a lost or imaginary ideal in the Far East. His correspondence with a few of his friends shows his nostalgia for the lost England devastated by the War. "Englishness" seems to have been the romantic sensibility he had lost which he hoped to reconstruct at HKU. Though the place was distant from his home country, Blunden attempted to search for his ideal "England" in the Colony, but in vain. Mallon (1983: 105) discussed the "literary exile" of Blunden from his home country, his rejection of modem England and failed attempt to construct the "Englishness" in the East. He also suggested that Blunden's exile accounted for his election as the Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1966, after his return from the Professorship at HKU:
1.. .] But the poetical and critical establishments seem to have a lingering sense of an injustice done to Blunden. In 1953, Garrod (H. W.) wrote him about assuming the Hong Kong post: "There's something the matter with this country [England], and with literature, when a way can't be found for keeping you with us. It's a disaster, and past understanding" (H.W. Garrod's letter to Blunden, 12~~August, 1953 - Humanities Resources Centre). But by 1966 Blunden was home, and his turn for real public recognition had come. He was elected Professor of Poetry at last, securing 477 votes to 241 for Robert Lowell [. ..I.
Mallon also commented on Blunden's love of Romantic poetry and his enthusiasm in introducing the poets to the students in Japan and Hong Kong. Mallon (1983: 99)
'I4 See Appendix 15 for a biography of Edmund Blunden, his writing and publications in Hong Kong. 115 Two of his speeches about the University can be found in the Inaugural Lecture given on 1" April, 1954 (HKU Supplement to the Gazette, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1954) and the conference paper "The Cultural Role of the University," collected in Commonwealth Literature: Unity and Diversity in a Common Culture, 1965. gave a vivid portrayal of Blunden as a poetry lover and an "evangelist for the writers he loved best":
Blunden gently and indefatigably explained and popularized English literature in the course of his diplomatic work in Japan and during his professorships there and in Hong Kong. He was an evangelist for the writers he loved best, and he took advantage of any opportunity to speak their names [...I. Indeed, Lamb is probably Blunden's closest critical cousin; the latter's combination of wisdom and affection toward his subjects, including Lamb himself, makes him a worthy heir to Elia. The same subjects and the same names occur again and again in his lectures and books, and are recited almost in the manner of a lover. The sense of intimacy and regard between subject and explicator is unusual and impressive.
In a letter to Meta Malins, dated 23rdFebruary, 1954, Blunden commented that though HKU students spoke good English, there was little English sensibility to be felt in the Colony, and HKU was "possibly just the nearest thing to it":
The Hong Kong 'Undergrad' was a little of a showpiece, the young here are mainly Chinese in style as in origin & speak more English than American, but indeed England is a little difficult to discern in the town nowadays, - our University is possibly the nearest thing to it, unless the Cathedral. Government House of course. (Rothkopf and Webb, 1996: 154)
In another letter addressed to Hector Buck, dated 26th July, 1954, Blunden expressed his uncertainty about his literary contribution to Hong Kong. He expressed his sense of dislocation. Showing his disappointment about Hong Kong as just "nominally a British colony", he seemed to have failed to find the English sensibility and creativity he had looked for in colonial Hong Kong:
After about a year in our University I am uncertain enough about further decisions. I can't quite work things out on the present economics, and I don't know if my literary line makes any difference in Hong Kong. It is nominally a British colony, and splendidly managed, but the mass of people are Chinese even if in exile. The Chinese have for ever been examination ridden, and our little University is largely a concession to that principle. Yes, there are idealists, there are inquiring spirits, but I can't see their number increasing. (Rothkopf and Webb, 1996: 155)
Blunden acknowledged the stereotype that the education system in Hong Kong was examination-oriented, stressing that "inquiring spirits" were important in education. He also lamented his weakening literary inspiration when he was in the Colony. He might target at creating a more culturally-oriented institution, based on his ideal of "Englishness". His disappointment might have come from his aspiration to an "Englishness" that could be created elsewhere, whether there could be an "invented community" of Englishness outside Britain. Some even argued that Englishness was precisely the sort of myth that could only be created "el~ewhere"."~Englishness is therefore associated with cultural insecurity and doubts about its boundaries, features that would inevitably accompany any promotion of a culture of sensibility in the colonial context, and any attempt to give it legitimacy in the eyes of developing local elites. Blunden's romanticized idea of creating a space for "English sensibility" in Hong Kong with his love for Romantic poetry marks the most remembered period of the history of the English Department at HKU. At one time, the English Department was described by Barry Webb, Blunden's biographer, as a close association of Oxford, "a home from home" for Blunden:
The English Department soon began to look like a home from home, for two lecturers were old Oxford acquaintances: Mary Visick, who had been a pupil from St. Hilda's, and Alan Green, a language specialist to whom Edmund had been official tutor at Merton. By 1955 they were to be joined by Alec Hardie, and a year later Claire [Mrs. E. Blunden] was to join the department as assistant lecturer. With Bernard Mellor [the University Registrar] as his next-door neighbour Edmund was thus surrounded by five former pupils and the association was to be strengthened through two of his Chinese colleagues: Margaret Yu, whose father [Yu Wan, a school inspector in Hong Kong] and brother [Patrick Yu Shuk Siu, a barrister] had been at Merton, and Anne Choy, who was to do postgraduate work at Oxford and become, by Edmund's introduction, part of the Levens household (199 1: 295).
In his Inaugural Lecture on lStApril, 1954, Blunden praised the enthusiasm of a group of young lecturers who "[inspired] the rising generation through the wonderful prose and verse, the drama, the political philosophy, the classical inheritance and the very dictionary of the English nation" (4, my emphasis). This lyrical expression of national pride contrasts with Simpson's more locally-oriented and practical-educational concerns. This search for "Englishness" at HKU, nevertheless, was not very successful. Webb (1990: 305-306) pointed out that the Professor had twelve grievances against the English Department and the "whole silly university insipidity7'. One of his complaints pinpointed the disciplinary splits between linguistics and literary studies that the University put more emphasis on linguistics at the expense of literary studies.
Gikandi (1996: x), for example, stated that, "English was itself a product of the colonial culture that it seemed to have created elsewhere. The critical possibilities here were provided by the early works of Raymond Williams: on reading Culture and Society (pp.304-323), for example, I could sense some of the significant ways in which the central moments of English cultural identity were driven by doubts and disputes about the perimeters of the values that defined Englishness - the nature of civil society, subjectivity, the meaning of the past, the structure of things" (my emphasis). In his private memoranda, Blunden described himself drastically as a "disappointed man" who had committed academic suicide by accepting the Hong Kong chair."' Webb further elaborated on this:
His frustration at his loss of creativity and the weariness of his depression were made worse by a growing dissatisfaction with the policies of the university and the directions being taken by the English Deparbnent. As early as February 1957 he had angrily pointed out in his diary, "I hate the whole silly university insipidity. Not the young - no - no". Six years later he felt he was being pushed aside by the authorities and was unhappy about what he saw as the growing influence of linguistics at the expense of literary studies. (1990: 305)
However, assessments of Blunden were not all negative. The Professor was praised by his colleagues, friends and students in Edmund Blunden: Sixty Five, published by the HKU English Society on his birthday. Anson Fang (BA 1962)' who later became the Chief Secretary for Administration in Hong Kong, thought that Blunden had done much to bridge the awkward gap that existed between student and teacher. "His modesty was the most striking quality and it was a quality keenly felt for one did not expect to find it in a man of his scholarship and learning" (1961: 90-91). Lo King Man (BA 1962), the Director of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, pointed out Blunden's attitudes towards literary studies and criticisms and his expectations of students on the same ground: "He tolerates everyone's mistakes, respects other's opinions and reasoning; but he does not tolerate groundless criticisms and irresponsible judgements" (1961: 137). Lo also mentioned that the Professor gave much encouragement to students for them to express their own opinions: "He does not hesitate to remove all obstacles and to clear the path for his pupils" (137). Alan Green, the succeeding Professor of English and a linguist, wrote that "Blunden spoke to Hong Kong in two 'voices'- poetry and cricket".118As I have mentioned in the previous chapter, both Simpson and Blunden had strong enthusiasm for dramatic production. In Blunden's time, a HKU dramatic club called "The Masquers" was formed. It produced a number of plays such as John Milton's "Comus: A Masque", with Alec M. Hardie as the Producer in 1956; Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" from 25th to 26" February, 1957 at the Lee Theatre and "As You Like It" from 2oth to 24th March, 1958 at Loke Yew Hall, HKU."9 According to the programmes of the
"7 One question, which is of interest, is why Blunden took up the Professorship in the Department of English at the University in 1953. According to Hiramatsu, Blunden told her that he took up the post at HKU in order to live in the place nearest to Japan. This showed his affection for Japan (1974: 63). HKU Gazette. Vol. XI, No. 5. lStAugust, 1964. See Appendix 16 for the prologues of the plays and the articles about "The Masquers" in The Undergrad, the HKU student newspaper. performances, both staff members and students took part in the production as players and the crew. For example, Mary Visick and Blunden were cast in John Dryden's "The Secular Masque" in 1956. The play was produced by Claire Blunden, the wife of Edmund Blunden, and the music was played by Bernard Mellor, the University Registrar. One verdict on Blunden might be that he was "out of place" - in terms of culture and "out of time" - in terms of his place in literary history.'" His legacy to the English Department has been a complex one. Ironically the "Blunden era" is now the object of nostalgia as many prominent figures in Hong Kong society were graduates of the English Department, such as John Chan Cho Chak (BA 1964), the Director of the Kowloon Motor Bus Company, Anson Chan, the former Chief Secretary for Administration and Ann Hui On Wah (BA 1969; MA 1973), an award-winning film- maker, to name a few, and in a period in which "language standards" are widely assumed to have declined in Hong Kong.
Conclusion
While the scientific disciplines could claim to make an immediate beneficial impact on society, the study of the English language was the key both to English literature and western civilization and knowledge. This view of English studies, however, came to be contested in the post-war, post-colonial era, and the development of English studies was increasingly shaped by scepticism about the rhetoric of cultural value and improvement. I. A. Richards' Practical Criticism was an attempt to separate texts from the cultural and historical aspects of English studies and introduce the idea of an objective reading of a text as object. The advent of literary criticism in the early 1970s further "denationalized" English and opened it up to interdisciplinary interests. English Studies was then more widely taken as a branch of critical discourse. Reading literature in English was far less to be treated as a national discourse of England as in the early twentieth century, and this coincided with the rise to prominence of a postcolonial literature written in English by citizens of former British colonies. Cultural Studies opened up debates about the nature of literature and challenged the elite discourses of high literary nationalism. We can trace the evolution of English Studies from a nationalistic discipline of England to a broad "decentred" discipline in the late twentieth century upon decolonization.
Iz0 Kerr (200 1: 10 1) used the phrases "unfashionability" and "out of time" to describe the themes of Blunden's poetry in the Introduction of the reprint of A Hong Kong House: Poems 195 1-1961. 111 Today the University would no doubt affirm its commitment to the importance of English language education as English remains the medium of instruction across the curriculum, but what it understands by English Studies ('the great tradition?') may be very different from practitioners' views both in Hong Kong and the West. A historical perspective on English Studies at HKU can help us understand more clearly the tensions and contradictions in the "mission" of the study of English today. Conclusion
While knowledge of English is well-regarded in Hong Kong as a basis of career success, little attention has been paid to the cultural value of English literary studies. This thesis has focused on the early development of English education and English literary studies as an academic subject at the tertiary level in colonial Hong Kong in two contexts. The first is concerned with the institutional history of English education at the University of Hong Kong. The second one is an examination of the disciplinary evolution of English studies in England and this provides an intellectual context in which the limited amount of archival material about the English Department of the University can be better understood. The institutional history of English education in Hong Kong, when situated in a broader context, reveals the complexities of the issues involved such as knowledge production, nationalism, colonialism and imperialism. In general, there are two major dilemmas concerning English literary studies in the context of Hong Kong. English literary studies as a nationalistic discourse in England was ideologically- loaded, and English literature was transplanted as a branch of knowledge that had a civilizing mission or was understood as a "humanist surrogate for religion" in the colonies. The linkage between English values and literary studies as an academic subject was reinforced by the English Association in England, for example, historicism of literature was called upon to boost the national morale. The Newbolt Report on the direction of English teaching, issued in 1928, marked the high time of literary nationalism in England. English literary teaching, institutionalized at the university level in Hong Kong since 1913, was then caught in the dilemma of literary nationalism in the colonial context. One of the primary objectives of HKU was to spread British values and culture, and the Report on the Committee on Higher Education in Hong Kong (1952) shows the University's insistence on this in the post-Second World War years. Across the university cuniculum, English literary studies was regarded as the most relevant subject for propagating British ideas and culture in the classroom. A dilemma of the study of English in Hong Kong was that students were expected to know about England, its social customs and monarchical history through literature, but their knowledge of Chinese civilization was limited by colonial education. The interdisciplinarity of English literary studies was nevertheless highlighted by Professor Simpson. For him, English was a key not only to the treasure of ~nglish literature but also to a "general knowledge" of western culture, such as biblical knowledge, western history and philosophy. Towards the late 1970s, the interdisciplinarity of English Studies was further emphasized with the advent of literary criticism. Theoretical and critical approaches to literature led to the interrogation of the nature of English literary studies. Ideological implications were explored, and interpretation of literature was no longer entirely based on the literary text. English Studies interacted with other disciplines, such as Psychology (Psychoanalysis), Economics (including Marxist criticism) and Sociology (including feminism). Ths cross-disciplinary approach situated literature in a larger context and was more appealing. The educational ideal of "interdisciplinarity" and the advent of modem literary criticism to some extent overshadowed the ideological complexity of English literary studies as a nationalistic discourse of England in Hong Kong, at both times of high colonialism and decolonization. Knowledge of English was valued in Hong Kong because it helped graduates to be competent in looking for jobs. English-medium instruction therefore has been very popular among Hong Kong parents and students and made HKU an attractive institution for the Chinese. The social importance of the English language leads to another dilemma in evaluating English language and literary education in Hong Kong, which still exists today. Although the English Department offered English courses for the non-Arts students up till 1951 and the subjects in the humanities were highly regarded in traditional scholarship, the Arts Faculty had been marginalized in the University by other "practical" faculties such as Medicine, Science and Engineering. At present, students in Hong Kong have to learn English at an early age, but it is usually for practical and social purposes that they learn English. English as a literary subject is marginal as shown by the fact that only a dozen secondary schools in Hong Kong, mostly girls' schools, offer English Literature (Literature in English)I2' at Certificate Examination and Advanced Level Examination levels. Compared with workplace English, literary English is considered an impractical subject more suitable for female students. In the pre-Second World War years, English studies was commonly seen as a "Mickey Mouse" subject, an easy and effeminate option in the cuniculum and Arts students who took English were looked down upon. Business English was more valued than literary English. However, this pragmatic attitude
12' The Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination: Regulations and Syllabuses (2004) shows that the name of the subject "English Literature" %Bq% has been changed to "Literature in English", %% 29,reflecting the influence of postcolonialism and the growth of writings in English by non-British writers in postcolonial societies and worldwide. towards English in Hong Kong gave rise to the misconception that English literary studies was an elitist discourse for those who had the leisure to be taught how to read. Although, as Duncan Sloss mentioned, the University had resisted this pervasive pragmatic view on the usefulness of English since its establishment in 1912,"2 little attention seemed to have been paid to its cultural value. HKU was considered an example of British educational methods and standards in the Far East. Although there was no exact agenda concerning the "mission" of the University, William Brunyate commented in 1921 that HKU was expected to be the "natural head of a system of British missionary schools in China, and [. . .I a British university in Chinayy(Harrison, 1962b: 51). It adopted English as the medium of instruction, and its staff members were predominantly British. Its graduates were expected to be the imperial missionaries of Britain in the Far East. Even up till 1946, HKU was expected to be "a base for training a large number of pro-British elements in China".lZ3In practice, however, it would be an overstatement to regard HKU as an imperial cultural project, considering its unsteady operation in the pre-Second World War years and its weak financial foundation. Its positioning as the head English school in China was not justifiable. In 1928, W. J. Hinton described the shaky status of the University:
[The difficulty] is the general social and mental isolation of the University, both in the Colony and also in the republic of letters. Sir Frederick Lugard and Sir Hormusji Mody left the University like a premature infant of no family on the doorstep of the Colony. [...I To change the metaphor, the University was like an undeveloped organ hastily grafted on to the body politic under an anaesthetic, and it has only now begun to form an integral part of the body and to function with the society as a whole.Iz4
The University did not have a clear educational direction, partly owing to the political situation of the Colony. It was only in the early 1950s that HKU readjusted its role and set its objectives mainly for the interests of Hong Kong. The University attracted a very small number of mainland students who held scholarships for enrolment, but its English-medium instruction was credited with attracting Chinese students kom the Straits Settlements, who did not have knowledge of Mandarin and preferred studying
'22 CO 10451475. University of Hong Kong - Present Position. Signed by Duncan Sloss. Dated 20~ July, 1949. '23 FO 9241570. "B. B. C. Monitoring Service in Moscow". Moscow 16.00. Dated 19" November, 1946. Citing "Lien-Ho-Wang Pao" of Shanghai. '24 "Some Suggestions on the Use of the Long Vacation." The Hongkong University Union Magazine. November, 1928. 115 in Hong Kong to attending lectures conducted in Mandarin in some universities in China. Positioned as culturally in-between, the University was criticized on the one hand for its "lack of touch and sympathy with China and Chinese thought",'2s and on the other hand for its "foreignness". The Report of the University (1937) Committee concluded that HKU "has been modelled too closely on the lines of an English University, and that this induces an atmosphere of unreality. Many of the courses can have no real interest or final meaning for Chine~e"."~Some university staff members also made comments on the impact of western education on students, particularly on the idea of "little Englishmen" and colonial mimicry. It was arguable that some British staff members desired to transform the HKU graduates into "little Englishmen", when we read the speculation against Edward Augustus Freeman's distinction between racial and linguistic identity. As Freeman (1823-92), an English historian pointed out, despite language being taken as a key of lunship in various new forms of social organization, this did not mean that all racial groups could be assimilated or adopted into a national kinship (Hutton, 2000: 68). For example, the fact that English was the official language of colonial Hong Kong did not mean that the English and the Hong Kong citizens were related to each other as nationals through sharing the English language. On the one hand, the primary concern of some linguistics and cultural purists was whether the language of the Empire would be contaminated by the colonial subjects who spoke the language. They were not certain, on the other hand, whether they could set up an imitation of the Empire in the Far East. The university documents showed that some British staff was in particular sensitive to the notion of "little Englishmen". The University did not put the idea of "little England" or "little Englishmen" on its agenda. However, in order to appeal to those who admired the British values, some University administrators highlighted the "spirit of English gentlemen". They denationalized the kind of English moral ideals and sensibility and matched them with the Chinese virtues such as righteousness and honesty. Some British staff members, who, like Blunden, might have thought of building up their imaginary "little England" in Hong Kong, found English literary studies the only way to cultivate some English sentimentality but were disappointed in the end.
'25 FO 228/3201. W. J. Hinton's personal letter to Swire, with reference to the criticisms of Hongkong University. Dated 4" April, 1920. '26 University of Hong Kong. Report of the University (1937) Committee. Government Report Online. Today, the debate on the adoption of English as the medium of instruction is still going on in Hong Kong. Little attention is paid to the cultural value of English, and it is merely seen as a useful and practical subject in an age of postcolonialism and globalization. Roy Hanris, the Chair of English Language of the English Department, presented an inaugural lecture entitled "The Worst English in the World?" at KKU in 1989. Given an eye-catching and controversial title, his speech could be seen as a continuation of the debate on the status of English at the University and in Hong Kong at large. "Real intellectual fluency in English", besides "cornrnunicational competence", was what Harris thought every undergraduate should achieve fiom the university education (43). His view on the values of English echoed that of Simpson, his predecessor. He pointed out that "there was something much more important, and something which only a university could seriously attempt to provide than vocational English, or business English, or technical English" (43):
To furnish a student's mind with English at this level requires serious engagement with some of the outstanding works and some of the finest minds that the long tradition of English writing affords. [. ..] The English to which university students need access is the history-rich language which articulated the tropes, the metaphors, the arguments, the concepts which shaped the minds of some of the world's best poets, scientists and philosophers. That is English worth having: not as a nostalgic memorial of the past but as mental equipment of the present. (43)
To Harris, the English language was not only denationalized, but should be detached from its historical past. With the provision of the nine-year compulsory education, Hong Kong students are expected to acquire some basic usage of English, primarily for practical purposes. The complexities of English education in Hong Kong in colonial years and at present lie on the pervasive pragmatic view on English. English still retains its essential role as an international language of trading after the return of sovereignty to China. Knowledge of the language is intertwined with the notions of national identity and social mobility. More recently, we can see the heated debate about the choice of medium of instruction in Hong Kong, six years after the handover. The institutional history of HKU English education reveals that there is a continuation of the language debate from the colonial years to the present days of Hong Kong. Apart fiom the pedagogical problems, the ideological complexities of English education lie in the teaching of English culture in a colonial setting. The interdisciplinarity of English Studies reveals that English was not merely a "British" subject", but a key to the treasure of western civilization and knowledge, which looked attractive to the Chinese students. At present, English Studies can be said to be a by-product of global culture, an interdisciplinarity subject linked to Psychology, Film Studies and Gender Studies etc. The openness and receptiveness of English Studies as an academic discipline is encouraging; global knowledge and social identity are examined and theorized. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, English is no longer perceived merely as a language subject or as a product of colonialism. Appendices Appendix 1 English Association (Hong Kong Branch) Lecture Series 1929-1931 PREVIOUSLY PRINTED. CONTENTS. Lectures delivered before Tile Honq ICony Bratlclt of The En~liuhA~~ocialiotr 1929-80, A.ice $0 cents.
The Story of the Word " Tea" : Why We are Sentimental : By H. E. Sir CECIL CLEMENTI,K.C.M.O., M.A., LL.D. By Prof. R. K. M.SIMPSON, M.C., M.A...... 5 Charlotte Bront8 : By His Honour sir HENRYC. GOLLAN,Kt., K.C., Books on Chine : C.B.E., M.A., LL.D. By Prof. C. A. MIDDLETON-SMITH,M.s.C., M.I. The Difficulty of English: MECH.E., A.M.I.E.E. ... 18 By Prof. R. K. Id. SIMPSON,M.C., M.A. . The Child in tlre Book and in Life: English in the Army: By Major J. B. H. DOYLE,O.B.E., R.E. By The Rev. FATHERG. BYRNE, D.PHIL.,
a M.A.,S.J 32 Jane Austen : .... By Mrs. W. T. SOUTHORN.' Goethe ae A World Figure: Literary Links between East and West: By Dr. E. R. ALLEN,M.A., Ph.D ...... 39 By The Rev. Bather D. MACDONALD,M.A., S.J. Light Verse : ,By 13. C. MACNAMARA,LL.B...... 45 Lectures delivered before Tlre Hong Kong Branch of The English As~ociutiotr1930 -81. Price 60 cent^. Englisl~and the Pre~s: BY R. T. BARRETT...... 58
Travellere' 'hies of tho Spice Ial~nds: Adventures Among English 13oolcs : By Mnjor W. a. H. MILLS, R.M. By R. H. KOTEWALI,,C.M.O. 1,L.D ...... G8 Tlie Roots of Convention in Poetry: By Sir WILLIAMW. HORNELI,, Kt., C.I.E., M.A. The Teaching of Eriglislr in Schools : Judioial English: By Miss H. D. SAWYErr ...... 81 By H. C. MACNAMARA,LL.B. Beauty in Words : Incursions into 17th Century English Prose: By The Rev. Pathor BYRNE, D.Phil., M.A., 8.J. 'By His Honour, Mr. Justice J. R. WOOD,M.A. ... 90 War Books : Augustine Birrell : By A. M. BOWES-SMLTH,M.M. F. W. H. Myers : By Sir WILLIAMW. HORNELL,Kt., C.I.E., M.A .... 107 BYA. H.FENWICK, B.SC., A.M.I.C.E. Appendix 2
Appointment of a lecturer and tutor in English 1927-28 '1. A Lecturer Tutor 'in En;;lisL lo rdquired fc.r
'tLe Uni~ersityof Bong i 2. The Lecturar will be required to give ek$lanat;ory lecture8 on English book^ md to give tutorial instruotion In . - - -. . the English language. have a poor knowledge of ~n$lis<, and the Leoturer will be required to give these stude~tsindividual iastruatipn 0.f an int ansire nature. \----.-/ 3. The appointants will be, in the firsf inatanoe, for . threo ysara, undar an ~raementproviding for a free first- class P. & 0. paaexe to Hong Eong, and baak at the end of tbs term of appointcent. Any miaconduot during that tarm my, however, ras~ltin sumary diexLsaa.1, with forfeiture of the right to a return passage, 4. Salary will be at tha rats of d460 per anurn, rising il by two annual incre~nteof 8120 to E490 in tila 3rd yaar, . . Thereafter, if the Laotur~roontinuas in the asrvioe of the University, he will %a entitled to tboa furthar anus1 lncrammto of 4220, ad thereafter to two further amual .. .' . 120 inorenenta of E26, giving a =.-xFfou;n smnual eslar~of R600, rho to be sansidsred for thsee a?pointmzts ehould fornard their spplioation~to 'C.An The Y eoretw, Boar6 of mation, 'Gbite:~all, London. S .W.l. Boottish oandidates should appl7 to Tho Seoretary, Saottieh 102 Loolion. 5 .V. me ~bu~at~lpm-nt, ~itea;~,, , 1. list of applioations rill .clooe on Awt'Itll. ___eLLI GOVERNMENT HOUSE. . .- HONGKQNG. 2:j bii ~A~;~-~~1526. subiii-ltcC Qr th? Ser~iefcr the q~2oi:l!;!lisn'; of 2 Z,ecturer in 2hysics e?~z Lecturer in Ciici:!isi;l-y c:-! 2 ~212~7scale in requests6 -Lo be 30 good zs to zdvertise 2ar-Llculzs cf the . . steteu,?nts skiosinc general c011ditiom of ~iie service in &he . i / Qniversi& of 30% 7.Koig zre ezclosed. 3. L11 e:c-enscs irlcurred by the 3oar:I cf ,..--2 Governor, ... A. .~hn. rafeieilcc to 2-r. 3LLis s letter- of 11th ~nd27th Zune, (52676,28), I h~vcto i3901~.1YOU t:%et the Sc?ection Co1:ziittee EI$ tiieir z:eeti~-g on Stk ~':u.ugust . . d~cidcdto r~corkzecd. r. Gcaffrs;* lton L'rnig Kerlactc for ~ppoint~entcs :?esder in Siology, :.-reElkart Aaht 011 Xi11 for oppointltnt ce I,ecture- ii1 (::?e:::istIT ti. 3 $ in Physics st tiie University of Eora Kci'g. pnrticuare of the qs~l.ificat?or~sof thc~t?gentlemen - are enclcoed. (3:r;,v,~:-s52...-. - .%~rmll~i .-1.3. ,. .lTice-Ch0zcc11 or of b IF+- ~.em-oex . 01 Le 1, cele c cioii iip.x..i;p?g....5x:>.y-d , iinive~gt~.-a- z I - . ~~~-gt$~~~~tbio ccccr;:on -,dtliese recor~-~ci?batio:ls Ere of caursc i;.~de y:iih hin ~u~~ort*is.% -:Gr..--iior~~ll' s re qrtns-Ly,ti;? - C qrilldtt e e elso ~~teruiewedfor the pest of . ,- < . . . --- . T?lo Undo2 Secretary zf : t~te, Colonit1 ilfrice, ~~?:~li.;-g;;tree: , S*'\i*l. . 7. OFFICE OF SPECI.4L TXQTJIRIEF ~t IiEI'T) BOARD (,IF I~:I)U(;X'I'IOii, - Itt reply pknse qtcc~k- " CASIR." Dear Ulr. Ellis, Ye hdve repliec? officllrllp to :.ro5r l~ti~r~of cne 11th Jan? ad-the 27th Jvne (sza7aps) nith regard to the vacvnoiea /for P Reader in Biology and Lectarpvs in uhen~istryad Yhpeics at the University of Hong Kong. (U%ase-seemy 1et:er of the 10th August .; a- .- the'. of *a CL.' ,In -- tiht letter I also mention saect-Zon Lecturer 11. and '&to% in r;nglish which,we undertook'at -a.~aornell !s ,* tr: C-r speaiaj,~'~equ.ept,- I enclose. a copy of EL letter with enclosuree w . - - from Hornell with regard to this post und also a copy of the ssssvoao z=32 particulars. 1 orno- 1 2"":3)?$ 1 an ;.EX if :JD.i SO as U) 0 writing thin 3~teto rmld be good to Oo'zl - X0-l -t 0 arrar.ge far Gr. druine Hartnell 's medic:~l exz-dnation ss 2 g-nacoon i 8t-142% mettcr' urgency.' I have no doubt thst the Council rill ~02flrEi I , 1 -0 -1 g gg hi5 appointment .:nd Hornell,::is .ycrx mxipus tfi-?t he . should go to z<+rr-4 bj f0 -4 m Hong &.rig ' 'soan- ;is poss'kble'. i I rn : W.D. Ellis,Epq., Colonivl Office, Downing Street, S.Y. 1. As regar&, the other posts, the Beader in aiology (wc 1i hzve rzcomniendec? rtr. Herklota) is wanted as saon ;;re ossible i but Hornell does not wknt to curry Mr. Herkl ots hecal~se 1 he has soae sc~entir'ic cork to see tiirough the Press before 1 , he leaves Engl+d. - I I should be very grat~fulif yo0 ~ould,arsk-nge.-y~r, ur Bra.ine-Har",nell ,to ..be xedicQ1y :'exa~f~incd~qui~ck'l~.;.RG aould be po ecod as to let me knolii the result. Yours very truly, A.R.Ain~worth ,Znq. , fjoard ol Edu sat i 01, , Yfili'R!!cll, S.X. 1. iy dtts- Airisworth, Serewith a copy of a letter which I have trritterl to 3rair:e-iiR,-t.~el1. Yor: kil.dly weed to arar.Lz for Itis oedic~lexwir-ation. Would you do this as aoorl & you cet the cable froa the lion& %ow confir~dr.~3:e zPpoir.tcept, or. ever. ezr?icr. & rdo ttant=gthia -your~.rnan:zRr:.som++ac ;?ocritle ~-anc!he seeq to -have nothirg>p&rtict;fartc do hared ~f ke could leave before the enc! of tkis ZO?:~::, zo mci: t;;e b~tter, but ne ahouf 2 not leave later tbal the be&irir;iri~02 . - Se ptez~er. I ci ti~itthe ir:forration that'l sve akmt 'the post was r atner vawe I rathe1 tilink that I ~1:derstated tile ter:::~. Yorr rii&t set,? hi+ cc of tke circules ~etti~ts0o-L :.h~ tel-1::s. Pliiey'rre 1 precieely A'bne sm::e RS e.ose o*:-~2--ic:?- c- ses recruited. . . :rzyes . . . . possible but I do riot -;:?~-~tLiz u~.d~fy hustled =d if -.-. I:e h3.2 got certain paper-s which ke cul fir:ieh cpickly end get ~blisfled,let hiffi do so before he scats. Nokhin~;r =ins excegt to tbmk you :srrld yocr colleqyes for all the tr~~blewhich you ilavc taken or, behalf of the C'riiversity of LIor!g KO-. I tilink that ~e did a ~oodczfternoori's work yeaterdsy, at =y rate was quite it. I satisfied with J . . Hoping to see yb; ~zinnext yezr end. with all good wishes. I El!.;, Yours ever , W. 8. P!ell. P. S. Yihen you get, the ceble from Bong KOKI~,you night ififonr' the &n=er of the HOLE Kong w6 Shmg?,hai B~nkil-< Corporati on. Tb necessity for this will be cleer from ny letter to the COPY. ! -- 1 - The Eew ?Jfiiversity Club, St. Jamesio Street, S.W.1. 9th August, 1928. t -- to - T1 I 2 _ 0 A.C. Brcins-Htrrtnell, Zaq., \ -,.,.- - * Barton Eouae, 1 Dawlish . m Dear 11;. Eraino-iiartnell , E- I write to aay t-bt afirF;ve.?xlecided-3to:-recornand you for.appolntmeint 'to s:thc~-~actureuhip.in .Br~gll sh .now:vacmt -.the Pnivaraity of in- - Hongkon(;. ?ha appointaent rests actually with the University Council but I cebling to Hongkong asking the Council to confirm my selection aid to .. infonn Er. A.C. kbaxo,rth of the 13oard of ZduCstion accordingly. I arn leaving to-night, bV.t Zir. Ainsrtorth vill let t you know ac soon as he receives the coble Tran Rclsgk~ng. IE the event of your beiy n~~ointeC,'wewant you in Hongkong ae soon as passible. The tern actually begins on Septaber 12th and thou@. I ehalZ not s.qect you to be there by tht date, I shall hope that you will arrive as 2E I soon afterwards as possible. 1 ' I I The University will proride you ivi.kh a firet claas F. & 0. paaeage to Hongkong. It will be for You to . . 8 RrranEe your OWXI paeaage md I am d~etructingthe Eocgkong and Shanghai Eank d9, Grocechurch street)' to pay for the ?assage. I ailst e.xplain that If you should elect to t'ravel by a cheaper Gems, ::or s;.ocld dnly get fro= the University the coet of :rox actual tl.:ket. I should advise you to start peeing about ?our paenage et a. once, EP YOU can always 13ake E prolrlsional errangmect . , The terms of $he ~ppointxentwere explained CC8BB - Ms~)A generally in my letL,er to Sir Uchael Sadler. I an aeking Xr. Ainsworth to sen& you a =ore explicit atatement of thesa te-%so . . Please aend a rine, sr if necessary, a ceble to - aomc z5s5 0 x- Registrar, as soon as gassaga aoc; the Hongkmg Univeroity, your om0 03:: 7-m- fix6d. You will be net in 3ilol.r-&con~rn.2 looked. eft er, 10)o % ,-2o: mOxC - xo- Hoth.ing remaing now except for ne ", say that I -4 c rooc onox = a, shall ho?e to see you before lor.lr: in !Ton.gkong. I hope you S2%2 . . ="z, v 0 c-a be happy there, I shall c?o ny see that yo^ mrc will heat to cr- -4 C) - are. -z C The Manager, The Iiongkong d Shanghai Banking Corporatiori, L 9, Gracechxrch Street, X.C.3. Dear Sir, J should be very greatly obliged if you t good enough to send to the Registrar, Hongkong UnTwmii~ through your Rank in ETongkong, the following cabl&= *HA= SXZ;ECTEZ)SRAINX-HARTNELL UYIVERSIT~ FCOU[;EK;E- OXFOIU) 'FOR HAY'S POST STOP' YCCETSULT COUNCIL AHD BIFfE IELQllATELY !!CCrm7IRPATION AIBSWORTH mSEIWFI PARL ~~DQBSTOP BABTHELL CAN START I~ED~AT~LY P,STOP HZK SEIJ3CTXD BIOLOGY =ISTRY pH\lsr'j CSTOP -BIOU)GL CAN %WU' BEGIKNIHG $EFP?PQ% ''-STOP I .SZAVX TODAY JVTLA.NDU ARRIVINq !SIBGAPORB MIDDKU -Ell. . - "HOFWEU " Mr. Ainerorth of the Board of ikucation d , you if and when theqUniversity council' confirm8 3Ar &-&\a- Hartnell s apqo intnent . If the Apio intAant be kmhd Mr. Srsine-Hartnell has been instructed by me to w#h his own passage to Eongjrong at once. In the ebo* d~f here to12 Xr. Hnrtnell :hat you rill defray the c6-d 9 @ 1 PUBLl C RECORO OFF, CE COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH - NOT TO BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHICALLY Wl TH- OUT PERHISSION OF THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON Appendix 3 Arthur Christopher Braine-Hartnell Educatioi~alAppoi~~ti~~ents ill the Colonics. 94 FO:'\~ OF API'LICATION to be filled up hg persons dcsirii,~ Educational Emplo)-men[ in tile Colonics. It is rcqucsted that this form ma)- bc returned in a cover mnrkcd "C.A." to -r!?r:Sccretury. Board of Education. London, S.W.I. ij. Father's unme, national- ity, and occupation (State u-hetlrer liring or iie(icE) :- 7. Yerclancnt domicile of candidate's family :-. -... E. Post anci appro:.ri~nntc ,&4 50 /-a. salary desirctl :- /- d .. Lor . i- - ~!.,id.&$ V?4+. 9. Duration . ol' visits or ( rcsiclccce abroad :- r-, .. 10. Si!ni~.s of distric~s;tl~~-oncl of w!lich tlic app1ic:rnt has spccinl 1;llo~ledge:- 11. Pnrt.icalars aurl dates of any important appcict- Incnts, c-g., Ecadmastcr- ships or Yrincil~ntsllips, :lhilinistrativc posts, University Profcssor- ships, J.,ect.l.~~~eships.or the like, for n-hid1 the ;lpplicnnt has stood or is .?dnn&ng :- 12. A li!ic.t i(:s-(21_/p~?.;';v11 r.r in. OY!W&+?~> pf17n~.~:(1)) Se- Ac,~l9,. i,?~lG.~i / A- - :.) pr.ofi~.il,?)c.!/i~r (1 thlrt ii..-. :-- i7 - I hn~\-- -...... / 16. Professional training teacher, if any :- ! ... . . , - ! .,/- - - '- -' -. . ,,.- 18. Other cmplqm~cnt:- -'.. I (ill2 enzplogrncnt to .?r tt>fprc*l? / j in order of iinle). I . . i I I - of and Position character o! xvurk lonc, also sdaq rc:cix.r.r! - ...... Dstcs joining leaving. . .,&..,-. . .A - .- -- ...... - . - ...... ... '...... 'I., k A p , t dP . . , . . .- i.: . . ma sdy oithe Mdan -a a Translation of the ~gli+ poem -- . ( g,,~-f!'?~lfl~.rl') A Word fro= the Tran3U.b~~ ' To the Aev, Verrier $l~~in, >. 1 Gond Seva ilandal, Karanjia, Ifandla, India. Cear Verri er, When I found this tale Of the scholar-king who fell distraught, And held his scholarship for naught, And a11 his wit of no avail, And left his throne, and kicked his crown Away,, and slapped his vizier's cheek, And took his lute, and like a aeek Pilgria, wandered from the town, And walked serenely aany noons By forest paths, filling his tine By telling all his love in rhyme To snatches of rernsmbered t~mes, Until he came where Beauty aat Enthroned, to bide. his questioning, And could not ELS~~poor foolish King, Nor tell her what he mould be set, B'ut there before her filled hi.s heart With despairing j oy, until his fate - J But I' must not anticipate I And tell the end before the start; I thoGght of you; and so I made This English version (for I flirt IVith rhymes for pastime) to dipert Your -tedium in that forest glade Where you have gone to look for One .Who also dreamed, and Xeft His Throne, - And wandered on the earth alone, .. .Smiling and sad, under the sun. ! I#& wrought it with all gay device I know, )that you may find it fair, ~:'o~,to -dan laughter i s a prayer Arid beauty is. a. sacrifice. -__ Pl?3 tk last line-of, t*le first iwic; read: To filch y.naul piece-meal. ? .13 18 lines 'from the bo'ttowr Xo, spliatered 5 swept away - your mind involved 1.23 & 'I.. n n &I : And ~ntchtile ahczdoi7s lensti--en out, 0.25 line 9 r Eer rrists and an!des rang oitl~gold, and on n 25 :. nn bz . t.?~e.mut:1 4iin 'Permit. . tiien to of L, Tramlator s Pref zce It was in the closing yecrs of the nineteenth century that Professor P.W. Rain acci dentally unearthed in Poona that remnrkable hoim Safisnrz SagKra Mztnthxnii ( The Churning of the Octm of Time ); of the most interesting disco~~riesof nod~rnSnnskrit resezrch, one spent the next deczde 2nd c half in trcnslzting it into fine EnglishHe prose, giving the translntions fron ycnr to year to an "ppreciative publi Twenty years ago, by another fortunate accident, e Uagadhi ( or, we may roughly say, PBlT j version of the. same poem wasbrought to light in the Eahsdhatu Ilonastery at SuXnZdaya, Sian. It is now pre- served in the archives of the Royal Institute of Archaeological Reseerch of Sim. It is evidently later than the Sanskrit version, from which it mffers in detail; it is nlso more slaborzte, being swollen to nearly tmice the lengthby the Etddition of c: lyrical element and by the multi- plication of charzcters. The section of the poem to which I have here given the name of 'The T-dy of the Goon1 'is n sixteenth part ( or ' digitt of the mhole poem, cnd is named in the PZli ' Chandz-Hal5 . In this section some of the tales in the Sanskrit version (' Chandara-KzlE Ire rcgl2ced by others in the PZli, and the order of the tzles is differ) snt. . . An article of mine, on %he relative merits of the two poeas, and on the metricel types employed in them; together nith a criticism of recent surmises as to their dates and authorship, appeared in the J0crna1 of the R.T.A.R,S. for July 1934.c As this translation is affered to the general reading public rather than to oriental scholars, it will be sufficient to say here that the Sanskrit poen has great beauty, wf t, md narrative ski'll., ~ihichare adairably brought. out in Professor Balnts tr~slations. It 'differs widely fron the general run of Sanskrit poetry in its straightforwardness and delicate humour, and in the complete 23s 'ence of tha theological, didr~ctic, an6 polemical elements. In mdartaking the unthankful task of enalnelling the rose, the Pali poet, d~ilefollowing his original closely enough in places, using its very words when it suits him, has brought such a freshness of im2ression to his work that. it has a clain trl sone of the honours of originality. is in the Sanskrit version,the narrative part of ths section of the poem nere translated is nzinly conposed in the sh5rdulovikridita netre ( ---/uu-/u-U/UU-//--u/--u/- , with E yzti (c~esura)after the fourth p%de but sone of the shorter t.les are in the EryZ, srrgdharz, adother netre Phese netres are ertployed with unusuzl latitude, in contrast with their strict use in the Sanskrit version. In the' lyrics Igreat variety of aetres is enploysd, some of then apparently originzl. There is no rhyne, snd alliteration is occssionsl, not foraing an intsgral part of the netrg Being unoble to reproduce these netres, or znything like then, in Engli'sfi I hzve mde use of tradition21 Eng1is-h rhyths. Rhyned verse ceensd Dore ~Ptcble'thanblank verse for the reproduction of poezl of such m-egic grece and lightness, even though in findqg zv rhxles, and in trying to avoid stiffness, especially in the lyrics, I hcve had to allow FYself consider~blefreedom of translztion. . Professor Bain himself nzkes no conjecture zs to the authorshi? of tBe Sanskrit poem, but the concensus of authoritative opinion is inclined to attribute it to the.reign, and perhaps to the pen; of King ~arsha. Thile agreeing about the date, I cannot support this opinion about the authorship; for the tslent of this author .seems to me of a different kind fron that of the royal playwright and patron of letters; I think rather that it may be the work of an unknoxn courtier; and I see in the character of King s&riyakknta a flattery (mixed with a bold pinch of salt) of King Harsha. Similarly, of all the conjectures so far made as to the authorship of the %l?posn, I cnnnot support any with conviction. Brom internal evidence it vrould seem to date from the eighth century A. D, 1% is difficult to determine the drte of the sm'ijdaya Y.S., It is but it is probably. between .four znd five kmdred years old. written vith a stylus on palm-lezves, and is in a good state of preserv- ation. Several copies hevs been made of it, but it has got yet been The greater part of it, but not yet the Chcmda-IG?.lK,- h€.s published. Xostrof the been translated into Sizxese by members of the Institute. Sanskrit text has clso been translzted into Siamese by various hmds. ' In preparing my tr~nslatioilI have inad. free use of P~o~~SSO~. Bbin' s exquisite and scholzrly Znglish prose trznslation ofl38is section from the Sanskrit, entitled A Digit of the Uoon ', and of HG ChZrik's ii, able Sianese prose trcnsl-tion fron the Sanskrit, entitled B&g h06gi.ggZ I. The deserved ~opularityof Professor Szinls translotion, usual for a work of this nature, is shovm by the rimy editions into vhich it has run: Uessrs Parkel. and Sons, Ltd, Oxford, published the first edition in 1899, and the fifth in 1906; Eessrs irethuen and Co. Ltd, London, published the sixth edition in 1910, and the sixteenth in 1934,-. The Ueeici Society of London published n linited edition in 1913. 21 ' CnZ~ik'3 translati on mas published by $he Sri Erung Press, Bzngkok, in B.E. 2465 (192213). In romanizing ~511nmes 2nd words I have t-dcen the liberty of following the Sanskrit forns, for tno rensons: firstly, because the S3nskl-i t f orns, e, g., Eyu, Wcrun2, Indrz, Agni, rishi, aze uore *iliar -to the Europecn reader thln the PBli', e. g.., BZiyu, Birun-, Inds, bg-y bg-y 'beczuso tha Sanskrit forns are often .lore euph- cniouo and less strmgs td the European eye than the Pzli; con- Sanskrit Parwati, cnaicrc~w?~,fisrmaa, tne zdityns, with the P51i Ebbztz, ch3-kznIm0, Nerbuddh, the Adichchs. I h~erefrained forn tessing the reader with questions of t~xtualcriticisn, or z~biguitiesof aezning; in fact, I hcve avoided disturbing- his ezse with zny notes vhc~tever. In conclusion, I have to tender thanks to the President and Fellows of the Royal Instituteof Archaeological Research of Sian for their courtesy nne cordizlity in placing n copy of the Pall J.S. at n;lr disposal, and to then and to several of ny collen~uesat this University, md qy friends in the Wntional Library, for ~uchinformed zdvice cnd ccuLe criticisn, bong so mny it would be inviclious to nention nz€s. A. C. Srnino-Hartnell, Chulslankarann University, Bangkok. Cecenber, 1936. A rocgh note on the pronunciation of nanes. zs the vowel-soulrid in see i 3s the vowel-sound in sit ...... safe a ...... set ...... cart n in a closed syllable ... cut in an open syllable ... gcrosfi ...... C03t o ...... cg-ercs ...... cool. u ...... ,.. ;,...... cook .r an& w are nlwzys pronounced as' con.sonants. n before g is pronounce& as in . hl?n_ery. mere it ~eened'necesszr~I have marked the stress by the sign ' over the vjtvel of the stressed syllable. In the International Pho;~etic Code the n?aes of the principal characters mould appear as follows:- / / yak5nte J 'su:rijatka:nta ~nangq?~ga afruqgra: 'ga: Rasako'sha tmsafk~:{a sar 4 ji,n% satro: d3iTni: ~dmad~wa(the God of ~o8.e) 'ka:maTde:wa (ma7 NDV. 1931 --- r; . .. 1 II - h Union Magazine you / When buy-see that IRobert Brfbgee on EartbIp anb you get it Ibeavenly Zove 4liT Bridges, the late Poet Laureate of England, RoEfore he died a few months ago at a ripe old age, published his .Testanient of Beauty, a magnificent philosophical poem of some five thousand lines, written with perfected skill at a high level of loveliness. Nearly a quarter of this work, that is, the most part of the Thircl Book, which he calls "Breetl" (as opposed to the Second Book, "Selfhood") he devotes to at1 espositio~lof Love, founded largely on the philosophy of Plato but enriched by the author's wide knowledge of n~odernscience.(This exposition I shall here summarise for the benefit of the ll~anywho will not be inclined to read this difficult poem for themselves2 but I hope that my bald account will tempt some o enter into this high paradise of beauty and wisdonl?!I constantly use the words of the origin;~l in my transcript, since they arc so skilfully .chosen that variations seen1 inadequate; but I refrain from quoting any passages directly, sinceChis article is intended no[ in any way as a review of the noble poem but as a sunlniary of .the poet's account of love. Thosc who delight in beauty must go to the original. 2 THE MORRISON PIANO SELFHOOD, says Bridges, is the instinct of the Will enable you to learn music rapidly and insure individual, BREED of the race. The instinct of Creed is e&ry hope of getting the distinction of having necessary to the survival of plants and of animals aIif VIII Hong Kong University 1 Union "Magazine might( shrink fron~..a.respowibie~intefferei~~ewith have been inspired, the poetry of love might have been mating. But the question being. SO obsc~lre, we nlaY lllore truly balanced, and a steadier fire of passion have follow our instillctive preferences ~tnreliuked,and believe lvarmed the world). Again, a woman ill her love has that our happiest espousals are the free gift of Nature the deeper purpose of n~otherhood,and so looks ill the to the lovers of Beauty. 'father of her son for other things that1 that for The origill of sex is dark, though we call trace its , seeking beyo~lclherself for l\rllat she most growth. In the lowest types of life we find no distinction of sex, but the higher plants show differentiation at Nature, as Plat0 says, leads Man ~tl)13rardsby Beauty, puberty; the animals show early differentiation, and at till the forllls of sense take on a spiritual aspect (thoLIgll periodic appetite with mutual attraction; while ill xl7ithout losing their sensuous beauty, for that llns all man constant conscient passion is reached, transfornlable eterllal significahce, being the stuff of the reverent joy by Reason illto the altr~lislllof spiritual love. Thus the Of life). This .is seen specially in lovers; yet love's call instinct of Breed beconles in Man the highest and the to woman is'graver and more solen111 than to man, by basest of the passions, sanctifying fools and degradillg reason of her high function: for all the attainments of heroes. In the high nature of a poet Or lnystic, Inan, Cven his IXasculille intelligence, canle to hiln by the may be cl~lite,transfigured: so Dante rebaptised his soul devotion of motherhood. Th~lsit is a treason against in the sacrament of lrisionary love; SO L~1creti~tsin a Nal3x-e when Women unsex their owl1 ideal and strive frenzy of Beauty left his atoms in the lurch alld fell to to be in all things as men-so the rare sappho erred. worshipping Aphrodite; so Shakespeare in the ses~iol~s Christian marriage will seem to most read this of sweet silent thought idealised the memory of his love,, Poem like corn among its kindred weeds; but it a This high beauty of spirit has no quarrel with the hard struggle in Europe against pa&an poetry before it physical beauty of which it was born, but being wakened came into its own and incorporated tile poetry of tllc in the nlilld it has no more need of the old lure. So, Huns and the Troubadours into its ideal of chivalry. though Bea~1t.yis essential to love, the f~tllmajesty and Man's individual life is a tale of no account apart . happiness of love can he found in loversof little bodily from the love of Beauty; and Breed, like SelfJlood, is beauty, whereas mere fleshly passion will not outlast its bound UP with Beauty. Sex is attended by attractiolls brief spring. So Love is an inlmortal virtue: but n plants and animais: man. wit11 the growth of reason sensuous Beauty is the mother of Heavenly Love. outgrown sexual attractions had love not The instinct of Breed is more predominant, and it een transfiguredby beauty- Many deny this power of ,satisfaction more necessary, in the female, but this use Science has no account of it. ~~t how instinct, alld the attraction of bodily beatity, is con11110 ce find Colo~lrand sound escape to both sexes. Frilllacy of Beauty may not always ha ting when they have' passed the portals of - laill wit11 women, but because the poets have been chic 8 men (and the ladies have timidly followed the men uty of Nature and man's love of it are one . their rhyming) the poetry of love has given ch same, inseparable. In animal mating, as expression to masculine emotions, and men have glori evolved the physical attractions ' toolr on the beauty of women. (Could as many poetesses as po beauty, till the f0I-m~of beaoty, as in bird-song, became 68 69 Honp Kong University ,.I ;Union Magazine conscious and artistic, and ztfteruvards in Illan a ladder. climbing to heaven; and in him Beauty became spirit again. se~a.iable;rather the characters of man al.ld woman contain the same elements finely adjt~stedin different wondei- .is the motive-power of the,n~ind,SO is Bea proportions: nor are these elements all subordinate to of .the soul, so that in his "first lovet' a man is carrie sex, as some have said who impute all the after-troubles the ecstasies of earthly passion and heavenly vision, of life to the thwarting of the idolise specious appearance; he hopes to lllate lust of new-bor,l the essellce of love, and hence come all the troubl ' The femal'e character is distinct from the male ill his high passioll, If Hope were not itself .a happ its' worth and its weakness: its power is that of spirit Yet in sorrow would far outweigh our joy on earth. 3 i~orkil~gthrough flesh. Man's wisdom led hinl to walk love-rnaking hope is so rich and fulfilment SO rare that &rbund-gazitlg to cat.ch the whispered sernlons of stones comnlon minds think it well to renounce life-vows (and nmwhole rlatidns nose like swine for treasure) but false bondage that perverts happiness. This were women have stood erect to drink at the fount of light. if lllall COLIL~ separate brutal fro111 spiritual So Mary sit at 'the feet of Christ to hear his heavenly call while his apostles lonkcd for earthly prosperity. such a divorce being impossible he. must either faith can tnan save his soul; for as pieces of mere brutality or make a human harm0 irit .reaches new wisdom loses lleart of Nature's diversity and with faith and courage t Nature's carelesstless of nlan. spiritual rule for the conduct. of life. To de This is the r of honest thinkers wllo will llot deny the trL1tl, ~~~ristian111arriage is to vilify beautiful thil~. hey see: but the faith tllat is sanctioned by t(le tilere are so few of them, and to hold it foolish t ture, if it be not truth, is sonlething better excellence where so few can succeed and where tile happiness of those few is acconl'panied by the unh ows the gradatiolls froln blind of the far greater number, who would rather b passion to spiritual vision. thenlselves to illdulge their liking for the c To some, sex is tllc curse of S, the only pleasure of life. Some would ttgly. This is the humauitarianisl of denlocr sex to the interests of the state] otllers to ,c,illce in the crowd there is little good but what i to good health, or to good manners, N~ fronl above', Ethics and Politics have troubl wholly alike, and no one man is' froin the growth of deinocracy. e satnt will have his day of hunliliatioIl, Tile impulse of ses, strong though it is, is not th lo'ment of revelation, while conlmonsense bond of marriage; and if breeding and all liking for s opinion fro111 tillle to time as fortune ceased Illen and women would mate-and nlarriag if Love Were easy to catch and understand Illight'be more congenial. Happiiless is not be part of the Wisdonl of ~~d. a collection of pleasures, and happiness in depends not on the aninlal functions but o A. C. Braine-Hartnell. mind and spirit. Man requires wonlan for hi though we callnot make an inventory of k gives to man, for in our cllaracters the elements are 11 TO 71" /d~d1'131 Union Magazine Hong Kong University ,,,I . . The villagers wore clothes of curious cut, fashionable Granslation of Gbi neoe (poetry (luring the Dynasty of Chin. Of wan they h'sd not heard, tlntil the old man told have often thought that students attending them in detail. I classes, especially students of the Studies, might give much pleasure t 'Wa .L'iiig Yuen,' the people called the vale. others' by making transl{~~-io~~s-ofCh~ese-p~etry, no Thev lived. there in peace and llappiness, tilling their English verse, which wotlld be all unprofitable 1 fields anh Yepairing their 'cottages. but into simple prose. When the moon visited then1 throtlgh the Mr Li Yau Sing brought me a translation bpnches, npt a sound stirred. Chinese poem wliich pleased me so much that I induced And when the sun peeped through the clouds, the din him to translate the original word for word for my of the cock's crowing and the barking of dogs filled the benefit. We then made a new_ ._..._.__--translatio-.-- air. &ying to express the poet's meanlng acc Wondering to hear that a stranger had come that melodiously, Mr Li of course did most of the w way, the villagers jostled forward to meet him. lent 3 helping eaf." 'They view to bring him to their houses, expecting to This is the result.-(A. C. B-H). b4L,i,C~,rir,vpi,r~ hear from him concerning their ancestral homes. . . , They told him that the vale was good to live in: The THE PEACH-FLOWER VALLEY villagers rose with the dawn, and their first task was to By Wong Wai : clear the scattered petals from the lanes. ~hkold fisherman, pleased with the green 1 And a little before sunset, fishers and wood-cutters alldived his boat to glide with the flowing strean turned their boats homeward with the stream. two lines of hills. In the beginning, they had quitted the world for .It was Spring, and on either bank pea fear of the tyrant, to find shelter in that secluded place. grew wildly. . After they had become immortals, they never went Reclining in his boat, the old man fised his back to their old homes again. the crimson trees, and knew not how far No affairs of the world could ever reach that valley. travelled. And people living outside could see nothing of the At last he came to .the source of the stream, place but clouds and empty hills. no sign of any living mall. The fond old man left the place of immortals, llardly In the hill before him was grotto, dark a accessible to men. He entered, and gropecl through, and came ,And he went holl~e,by many hills and waters. valley. Far away he saw in the haze only a clust After some time, he left his home ,again, to make a +-A long visit to the valley he had found. . But reaching this, he came upon a village of ab But to his surprise, none of the hills and valleys on hundred families. The houses were set amo his way were familiar to him. and flowering plants. 77 76 'NVJ, '3 'd 'A31 'S ').i '331 .A 'X '3NnU3 'N ')I 'r(13US3ddO '(I '331 '1 'I4 'a331 'V 'S '9NO.i 'J 'd-:moN .NOSI~~VA'7 '3 '3x7 .r( '3 'f)NO,H '1 'S '~11113s'S '9 '338 -1'H-:.noH PUZ -OHX 'd 'd NO 'A '.L. 'NVL ')t '3 'HV~NV~'3-:mOU ~sr ':T ...... - " .?=F ,= .s- 'z-;= Do.-.- '-- F= 2 2 ,A=: dm- - - ." - -_I 5 2 >b- --C- - z,. I>;E--- - C ---Cu - 7 4 " 3 .= - rd = - .r. -.b -L 22 3 LLT - - - X ;- c e 3.s-332 Y?d tL?EZ 2: - >. =.= b2" .-4. -2 35 xee 32 2-d 2s- . C - - -, , L 5,- C _,-,*_,-cur JY=: - - A note on salary scales c .1945-46 .. A-,..~..T.?, 7.- :,.c.-. . Iw-ctcrera ~cxwitedii~ 3qLzr~: >,=re given freq gnash=a and LL'CW cn t.il.1 pay 2m mtl.9 dter G- BIF~~CO. 10 &Bitiaa it rd az~.ged i;hct in a .ccmhdbu~tozyEt+2%ricie.nt Pad zvq rdd~L" fiat tke n,a of tb!:! to re.t;ircrnrit t,et $!i r~oiildhave on rct+:t;=n$ eat 1~x3:: than $.lO,CaX to NEmalt. 3.5.s?!GIP &.:~.;-4na #y ~CL- .;:~n.-C:~~zz~ - .-...- I'ar dlm.,:r%lxf yl!3 0-a* - --- &&3 (U,:C.) the curn~cyh ~:vTnj,&$~3!~z!.~~;.~t22?2 i~; ~XdhUniwzsc5lty e;ocounix ox Lagt fnre Rsu~?er if3!;~~to $10 ,ii/;!> (.b:;~~iI r c'. :-2\.2 fc? pi.-% 2 :>LC.S - i , ::A.: tb.~ca~~r Senior l.ectu@r a$o~-$+.iic\';c3?!3 i;i'r f4.aflJ .;:!r'C. Ear 9'1~;at fiu ywz-:. 2 :xrea~Ynr &nim WO~WW, $3~~oe0(m5 to 235: : : Btlusfvp.Xy Imd. egliotatzwntn :'ntrI33 n71.l lkgo3;u ';mto?i: zs I3.t ~ma.=:-t I Appendix 5 Adrian Paterson IN MEMORIAM 5 C ADRIAN PATERSON 'Modern Superdtition' was the topic of his last lecture before he left for England. That evening, the Union Assembly Room was packed to the limit with an expectant audience. At last, with a cloak covering his shoulders, he came, pale with illness. After the T Chairman hacl murmured something about the 'swan song', he rose to the platform amid a roar of clapping, and dived straight into the most paradoxical ideas. It was superstitious to believe that the harbour was full of cholera'gernis; psychology was but a pseudo- science, and more staggering still, science itself might be just a bundle of lies. But, on the other hand, the Chinese custom of cover- ing small-pox patients with red cloth was perfectly reasonable, because of the mysterio~~sreaction between the Yin and the Yang (A B). In this manner, he rattled on for an hour. Roars of . , laughter followed one after another. Scarcely anybody was serious, .. i. : - I and scarcely anyone thought hewas serious. Some might have thought he was a bit cracked. But was he? There seemed to I)e every reason to think that he was. For, although most Europeans here admire the Chinese civilization and culture, few dare to look the Chinese gentleman to the last detail. Some go so far as wearing a Chinese gown at home, but only at home. However, this English lecturer sornetinles wandered about in the University compound in his blue Chinese gown, putting to shame many a student who had discarded his I ancestral robes as something only sliglitly better than pyjamas. Or, if he was not a little bit cracked, was he just another of those China-admirers from the West? We drink tea with cream and Taikoo cubes at Chan Chun's, hut he asked for green tea, served in a Chinese cup, which he held in the proper Chinese way. Then, if you went to his quarters at May Hall, you would see a Li PO here, a Guan In there, some Tibetan incense on the mantel-shelf, 'i and a copy of Lao Tze on the desk. If you were invited to stay I for lunch (which was often the case), you would see no fine plates i from England, but coarse bowls and dishes from Chinese earthen- ware shops. 11 Who were his constant companions? At once I sec the calm, I ,I s'teady Mr Fenwiclc, the ever-smiling Prof. I-Isu, and hear the hoarse I voice of Chan Sek I ANNUAL MEETING The late Adrian Paterson was lecturer in English in the University from 1936 to 1938; leaving that June, he joined Cairo University in the same capacity. Last August, while visiting the Pyramids, he met with a fatal accident. The mule on which he was riding suddenly became frightened of the honking of an approaching taxi, and threw him into the driving window of the vehicle. He was picked up unconscious, and next day died from shock and loss of blood. He was buried in Egypt. J1orz.g 1C07zg. Univmsi' Poems By Adrian Paterson after nightfall dill lingers, colouring her heights, that spnn tlie'\?Test like raiubowfi, wit11 tlie rainlww'a liglite. THE AfING TOMBS Tenrs, decndes, centurizs have pnssed since you were borne, Stelled with mauve hyircinth and ~iurple nenuphar. rt foots the cnrved pillua of its vestibule; emperors und empressee of a great dynasty, noa at within, the temple, stuir on stnir, in cloisters cool, anlid 5 reverend populnce, in ll~igebier, high looms, culminating in co~~edshrines that gleam afler. 011 stalwnrt shoulders, along marble ronds, througli corn more green than the rich peen brocaded gnsments, worn Before these, on a terrace, near the lnstral pond, 1)y benrer nncl muaicinc~,.far, tinder a sky, an emperor, lliu queen und their court sit, feeling, flecklessly blae, beneath triun~phnlarches to lie as they gaze eastwnrd, a just. pride-dawn is revealing in pence, rid of intrigue and praise nnd pmiser's scorn. the city's giant prtnla nnd the splentlour beyond. Jungle and grasses now where once tliose great ones sat But there was. motirning then. To-day, gone is tho glory and what they gnzed at ollce ia now jungle m~dgrnfiscs, and or the pilgi~iisto yonr glaven, few know yoiir story. ' for the mngnifirence cven of stonework passes Yet, dlist as yon now are, one wit11 tlre mountain soil, n.way. Yet are the scattered vestiges of tl~ai under your fragrant cedars, none hna spoiled, cnn spoil in nlnjesty RO gand, we cnn b~~t~nurlnur-'rime your deep repose. This resting ploce is ]nore eerene will never beliold the like of ANGIiOIi a1 its pri~ne. with but the same blue 8liy and tlie tall corn as green. SONNET ON READING SOME POEhIS.OF WONG WEI . TRANSLATIONS NANKIXG ( I 48 ) Appendix 6 Objectives of the English Curriculum in the Early 1920s Appendix 6 Objectives of the English Curriculum at HKU in the early 1920s The object in the first year's course will be to secure for the student a practical command of the English language, to train in the building of sentences and help him in the acquisition of a vocabulary. Some attention will also be given to a preparation for that study of English Literature, by which alone such command of the language can be maintained and extended. In the second year it will be borne in mind that the study of Literature has not only a practical value as an aid to composition, but has also a cultural value. In the third and fourth years this cultural value will tend to predominate, and English studies will become the ground for the exercise of critical faculty, development of personal taste, and instruction in aesthetics. Literature will be studied by periods. Appendix 7 R. K. M. Simpson UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH EDINBURGH ' pkt~d Published for laUnkrsily i?v OLIVER AND BOYD, TWEEDDALE COURT LONDON : 33 PATERNOSTER ROW, E-C. Record of Vi7ar Service SIMPSON, JOSEPH. Harris Institute, Preston. Student of Science, rgoo-6. District Volunteers, East Africa, 1914 Belgian Military Transport, Uganda, 1915-16. Military Labour Corps, Private (rejoined) June-1917 ; Sergeant Dec. 1917 ; 2nd Lieut. July 191s. SIMPSON, KERR ALEXANDER. Edinburgh Academy. B.L. 194 8th Highland Light Infantry (T.), 1306; Captain ; Major June 1gr5. General Staff H.Q., Scottish Command. SIMPSON, ROBERT FRANCIS. Broughton School, Edinburgh. Student of Arts and Science, I~I1-15 ; M.A. 1919 O.T.C. Infantry, Oct. 1911 to Jan. 1g15, Cadet Corporal. 9th Gordon Highlanders, 2nd Lieut. Jan. 1915 ; Lieut. Aug. 1917. France. SIMPSON, ROBERT JOHN SHAW. Edinburgh Collegiate School. M.A. 1878; M.B., C.M. 1882. Army Medical Service, Feb. 1883, Colonel. A.D.M.S., Woolwich District, Aug. 19x4 to Jan. 1913. C.M.G. 19;C.B. 19x7. SIMPSON, ROBERT KENNEDY MUIR Perth Academy; First XV. M.A. (Hons. Engl.) 1914 O.T.C. Artillery, 19x0-14, Cadet Corporal. RF-A. (S.R), 2nd Lieut. Aug. 19x4; Lieut. ; Captain Nov. 1917; Acting Major Aug. 1918. Adjutant, 19th Brigade, Nov. 1916. 98th and 131st Batteries, March 1917 to Feb. 1919. France Dec. 1914 Wounded April 1915. Dispatches 1917. M.C. Jan. 1918. SIMPSON, SAMUEL RALEIGH. M.A. 1902. Writer to the Signet, 1906. Labour Corps, 2nd Lieut. Dec. 1917. SIMPSON, WILFRID JAMES. Edinburgh Academy.. M.B., CbB. 1907. Indian Medical Service, Lieut. IW; Captain 191 I ; Major Aug. 1919. France Oct. 1914-16 ; East Africa Nov. 19x7 to Feb. 1918. Dispatches (East Africa) Jan. 1919. SIMPSON, WILLIAM HAMILTON. M.B., Ch.B. 1903 ; M.D. 1906 ; D.P.H. (Edin.) 1906. N.Z. Medical Corps, Captain April rgr 5. N.Z. Hospital Ship Maheno, Gallipoli. SIMSON, ALAN G. Edinburgh Academy. Student of Law, 198-9. Chartered Accountant, 191r. RF.A. (T.), 1st Lowland Brigade, Lieut. 1910; Captain June 1916; Acting Major Nov. 1917. France Oct 1915 to Dec. 1916 ; Mesopotamia June 1917 to Dec. 1918; India Dec 1918 to Oct. 1919. SIMSON, ALEXANDER MACDONALD. Student of. Medicine, 1912-14 and 1917-19. O.T.C. Artillery, 1913-14, Cadet R.F.A. (T.), 1st Highland Brigade, 2nd Lieut Aug. 1914 ; Lieut. June r91( France (two years). 638 :URGH JOURNAL gents in motor spirit and as a member WILLIAMADDISON ROY,8.SC. 1925, M.I.MECH.E., fonnerly of Wirnbledon, London : an outstanding contribution to the at Lundin Links, Fife, 3rd December 1969. mgement education. GEWD M.B. : I&. ,the College's considerable achieve- GAIRDNERSANDERS, 1921 at Hastings, 6th December dents was recognised in 1964 when .%NDRAV ELLIOT Scorr, EX.1924 : in Edinburgh, 26th November 1969. 1 Norwegian Order of St Olav, and M.A. F.E.I.S., J.P. : s received. in Oslo by His Majesty Jam~LLHoN SCQrr, zgrg, at hnmay, Aberdeenshirc, 19th Jmw1970. THOMASSCOTP, M.B. 1920 (late of Hawick) : at Coldingham, Berwickshire, 2qth November 1969. : suddenly, in hospital at Invemess, ,X&IZT XIN~DYM&Z S&-N, k.~.,M.A. ig14, formerly Professor of English, ation. University of Hong Kong : at Aberfeldy, Pertbsbire, zrst September 1g6g. 131, B.D. ' at Kirkcudbright, 28th Professor Simpson was educated at Perth Academy and after service in the Great War, when he was awarded the Military Cross, he taught in Edinburgh before going to Hong Kong. He was a prisoner of the Japanese for ovet thee at Malvem, Worm., 20th January years during the last war and returned to Edinburgh in 1951. He died while on holiday. F.R.CS.ED. : at Newcastle-on-Tyne, DAVIDTHOMSON S-, B.SC. I923 : in Edinburgh, 6th November 1969. LADYJANJZS CA- SNEDDEN(nde MaJ)ougall), =.A. rgto : at Cmwborbugh, Southern Rhodesia and Tasmania : Sussu, 20th Jan- 1970- After a brilliant academic career in which she graduated with First Class Honours in Modern Languages, achieving a Double First in French and Guman and winning the Vans Dunlop Scholarship in 24th December I 969. German, Lady Snedden continued her studies at the Universities of Berlin, orstorphine School : in Edinburgh, ZGch and Montpellier, and later she acquired a working and conversatiod knowledge of six other languages, including Russian. As an undergraduate, she was one of the outstanding personalities in the Old Quad. She was an , late Medid Officer Dudley Road Office Bearer in eight Societies, and in particular President of the Historid lop, a* October 1969. Society and the German Sodety ; ~QIYof the League of Nations Society; ugh, 8th January 1970. Secretary of the Student Christian Union; and Convener of the Inter- Universities' Committee of the S.R.C. From 1923 to 1926 she was Secretary :, 26th October 1969. of the Youth Committee of the Church of Scotland until she married Richard Snedden, himself an M.A., LL.B., of the University. Her husband's work ?.R.~.s.ED. : in Birmingham, 3 r st took them abroad a great deal to Europe and overseas and on those occasions r pupil of George Watson's CoIlege Lady War, Snedden acquired a wide repubtion as a hostess, for in addition to being awarded the Miliar)- being able to .anversewith delegates in their own language, she had a genuine to the Midland Hospital, Binning- unforud interest in people. An accomplished and effortIess s*. she Solihull HospitaI from which post launched many ships-the Iast only six weeks before her death-d her speeches then were " occasional " gems and are still talked about. A. I922 : at Milnathort, Kinross, ROBERTA~~NDER ST- M.c., T.D., M.B. 1913 : at Peebles, suddenly, 10th November 1969. Y of Ardgap, Ross-shire : at Hull. ALEXUVDER DRONSIBWART, c.I.E., M.B. 1906, LL.D., P.R.C.P.ED., FJLC.S.ED., D.T.M.w., D.P.H., F.R.s.E., Lieutenant-Colonel, I.M.S. (retired) : in Edin- burgh, 16th August 1969. Dr Stewart graduated with iirst-class honours and r. Daniel Stewart's College : in immediately entered the I.M.S. During study leave in 19x3 he tookthefurther TS. degrees of F.R.C.S.Ed. and D.T.M.&H. In the Great War he served with -cs., lately of Beaulieu-sur-Met. distinction in Gdipoli and Mesopotamia and was mentioned in despatch-. is95th year. After resident po~u In 1920 he obtained the D.P.H. and thereafter his carer in India was bound outh to became mident medial up with preventive medicine, as M.O.H. in Simla and in New DtIhi, and Y Avque, London, wh6re later he then in Bengal, whve after a period as superintendent of the medid allege ng the first war, Mr ROWC1nJ ho~pitaIs,he became professor of hygiene in the Calcutta School of Tropical ~ltalin France and was made Medicine and Hygiene. When the need for an AU-India Institute of Public Hedth became acute, he was appointed its first director, and it was his ph- I I Re.: (-0(0 I I Please note that this copy is suppl' use of it may be subject to wpy - Ccr 3 6 UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG GAZETTE Vol. XVII 0, ALAN BIRCH, M.A., Ph.D. (Manchester) Dr. Alan Birch, Senior Lecturer in History, senior lecturer in history at the University of has been appointed Reader from July 1, Hong Kong in 1967. 1969. Dr. Birch has continued his research in the Dr. Birch was educated at the University of history of industry, with studies of industry in IManchester where he obtained the degrees of Britain and Australia in the eighteenth and B.A. in 1950, M+. in 1951, and Ph.D. ia nineteenth centuries, both generally and 1953 for a thesis on the history of the British specifically in relation to the iron, steel, and iron and steel industry. After .completbg his sugar industries. He has published numerous , first degree, he taught in the Extra-mural articles and several books, and from 1956 to Studies Department at the University of 1962 was editor of Business Archives and Manchester until 1953, when he was appoint- History, the journal of the Business Archives ed lecturer in economic history at the Univer- Council of Australia, which he founded in sity of Sydney, where he was subsequently 1955. Recently Dr. Birch has been elected to a promoted to senior lecturer. He was appointed Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society. ROBERT KENNEDY MUIR SIMPSON, M.C., M.A. (Edinburgh) The news of the death of Professor R. K. M. asan administrator. He served with distinction Simpson suddenly on the 21st September on a large number of boards and committees 1969 was very sadly received by his many including the Senate, Council and Court, the friends and colleagues and past students. Hong Kong Board of Education and a great Professor Simpson was born at Aberfeldy number of scholarship selection committees. on 29th May 1892 and was educated at Perth He was the Warden of May Hall from 1920 to Academy and Edinburgh University where he 1924. It was in the critical and ditficult period was distinguished by the award of three immediately followin gthe end of the Second medals. Immediately on graduation as Master World War that his administrative burderis of Arts in 1914, he was commissioned in were heaviest and their proper carriage most the Royal Field Artillery and had four years' signiscant for the future of the University. active service including command as major of The office of Pro-Vice Chancellor had not yet 6eld batteries in the 1st Brigade and in the been cre-ited and as the Professor-in-char e of 19th Brigade. He was wounded at the second the Vice Chancellor's office particularly Prom battle of Ypres, was mentioned in despatches July 1946 to December 1946, but also for and was awarded the Militiuy Cross. After a several subsequent periods, upon him fell a brief eriodof teachingatEdinburghAcademy large share of the task of bring;Lg back into life and use a University much of whose and eeorge Watson's College, he took up an ' appointment as lecturer in English at the buildings and equipment had been destroyed University in 1919 and in 1921 was invited to or damaged during the War. His energy was as occupy the Chair of Enggsh which he held infectious as his good humour and he consi- until his retirement. As an emergency reserve dered that any problems existed simply to be officer he served in the forc= in the solved. But the immediate practical problems Battle of Hong Kong, was severely wounded facing the University at the end of the War and made a prisoner-of-war after the capitula- mere considerable: there was virtually no tion in December 1941. In 1916 he resumed furniture and equipment; lecture rooms had his academic career in the Chair of English been stripped bare of woodwork and were until his retirement in 1951. He was appointed without windows, doors and floor-boards ; the Professor Emeritus in 1951. Great Hall was a gutted roofless ruin; there .. During the entire period of service in the was shortage of basic equipmentlikestationery University he was active both as a teacher and and textbooks. These difficulties %ere faced 157 I: 4 I I ~ZPublicRecord Office's terms and conditions and that your s. Further information is given in the enclosed Terms and ply of Public Records' leaflet ts1 - --~ ".--- - - . No. 3 UNIVERSITY OF H( '3 ING KONG GAZETTE 37 and under his enthusiastic and resourceful Those of us who are fortunate enough to leadership, order was quickly engendered. have been his colleagues will remember Gm Undergraduates were encouraged to provide with equal warmth and respect. As a very their own portable stools which they carried in young and newly appointed lecturer, I recall the true spirit of a peripatatic university from I received from him all possible encourage- lecture room to lecture room; textbooks were ment and guidance. He was a firm leader and gathered together from a variety of sources, or expected his staff to give unstintingly of their ' were shared in use; and if the boards of best capabilities but this was drawn from us faculties suffered some discomfort from having more by his jovial friendliness and encourage- to meet crowded round a single desk in a ment than by any obvious pattern of discipline, small office, instead of in an air-conditioned and he was always motivated by regard for the conference room, perhaps they benefited from best ..interests of his students, the University the added stimulus, to avoid prolixity, and and of his staff. In his friendly and hospitable came to rapid decisions which. his brisk relationship with all his colleagues and pupils chairmanship in any case always encouraged. his beloved wife Dora played a positive part, Certainly within a matter of weeks the work of and not the least effective influence he had the small body of staff and students was arose from an ideally happy marriage, which infused with a sense of purpose and direction; through its mutual and cheerful affection this was very much due toProfessor Simpson's radiated warmth to all their friends and work at that time. acquaintances. He was more concerned with University It is significant of the love he had for the teaching than with research and the amount beauty of Hong Kong as he knew it before of his writings available in published form is concrete and steel strode over so much of its not large, but no student of English will fail to green hills, that when he retired to the town of benefit from reading his essays, many of them his birth, the house he built for his retirement based upon informal lectures and broadcast on the hills of Aberfeldy was called 'High West' talks given +outside the curriculum for the to remind him continually of that steep ridge pleasure and broadening of interest of students above the University at Pokfulam and upon and the general public. The tone of clarity, which he loved to waik to enjoy what he had common sense and good humour sounds always asserted was one of the finest views in clearly in his writings just as it did in his the world. Almost my first personal contact lectures. With disarming modesty he described with 'Bertie' Simpson was through taking a his publications as simply Ijourneyman-work walk with him over the ridge at High West in aimed at exposition to offer guidance over old Hong Kong, and our last personal contact was paths and to encourage the exploration of new also a stroll together from his house 'High paths' but all his published work is in fact West', to ramble round the streams and falls notable for a coherent expression of thought immediately behind it, described by Burns in fed from a reservoir of perceptive reading, 'The Birks of Aberfeldy', in which he took an strengthened by natural wisdom and unaffected alrnost possessive pride. Some of my most vivid realism. He had been grounded in the best recollection of his friendship and talks on traditionof Scottish liberal academic discipline, literary subjects are in the context of hills and and it was upon this model that he worked as clear mountain streams. His spirit belongs a teacher at the University to earn theundimin- very much to the uplands where one can see ished respect and affection of the very many furthest and where the air is clearest and in this students who passed through his hands. Out setting I remember him so vividly. It is sad of the high regard his pupils held for him that we shall never hear his vigorous and good there was enthusiastic response from past humoured voice again, but some consolation students to the proposal in 1962, several years to know that an echo of it can still be heard after he had retired, to establish a prize in when we open the pages of the books he left English in his honour which still stands in the behind him. University's prize lists. R.O. Appendix 8 Personnel of the English Department, HKU 1913-1964 Appendix 8 Personnel of the English Department, the University of Hong Kong (1913-1964) [An Incomplete List] -The Department of English normally consists of a professor and three lecturers, who also act as tutors. (1926 Departmental Report) Year Names of Professors, Lecturers and Tutors . 1913 Temporary lecturer 1914 MrJ D Wright 1915 Prof J Wright 1916 Prof J Wright (Dean) 1917 Prof J Wright (Dean) 1918 I'rof J Wright (Dean) 1919 Prof J Wright (Dean) 1920 Mr RKM Sinipson Mr B G Birch 1921 Prof Simpson Mr Birch (2 tutors) 1922 Prof Sin~pson Mr Bircli 1923 Prof Simpson Mr Birch I924 Prof Simpson Unknown 1925 Prof Simpson Dr Fenton Mr Hett 1926 Prof Simpson Mr Birch Mr FHJ Trayes Mrs Crook 1927 Prof Simpson Mr Birch Mr Trayes Mr Hay 1928 Prof Simpson Mr Birch Mr Trayes Mr A C Braine-I-lartnell Mr W Hornell, VC, HKU 1929 Prof Simpson (Dean) Mr Birch Mr Braine-Hartnell Rev. C B Shann 1930 Prof Simpson Mr Birch Mr Braine-Hartnell Mr C E R Clarabut 1931 I'rof' Simps011 Mr Birch Mr Braine-Martnell Mr Clarabut + 1932 Prol'Simpson 2 Mr Birch Mr Braine-Hartnell Mr Clarabut 1933 Prof Simpson (Dean) Mr Birch Mr R R Campbell Mr A B Rcytlolds Prof Simpson Mr Birch Mr Campbell Mr Reynolds Prof Simpson (Dean) Mr Birch Mr Campbell Mr Reynolds Madame Marty Mr A Paterson Prof Sinipson (Dean) Mr Birch Mr Campbell Mr Reynolds Madame Marty Mr A Paterson Prof Simpson (Dean) Mr Birch Mr Campbell Mr Reynolds Madanie Marty Mr A Paterson Simpson (on leave) Mr Birch Miss Lai Po Kan Mr Salter Prof Simpson Mr Birch Miss Lai Po Kan Mr H L MacKenzie WWII in HK Prof Simpson Miss Lai Po Kan Mr R Oblitas Prof Simpson Prof Simpson (Dean) Prof Simpson (Dean) Mr Dircli Miss Lai Po Kan Mr R Oblitas Prof Simpson (Dean) Mr Birch Mr R Oblitas Miss Margaret Yu Prof Simpson (Dean) Mr Birch (Dean) Mr A W T Green Fr. Birmingham, SJ Mrs Ruth Kirby Mr BG Birch (Dean) Mr Green Mr Oblitas Miss M Yu Mrs M Visick Mr BC Jones Mr E Blunden Mr Green Mr Oblitas Miss M Yu Mrs Visick Mr BC Jones Mr E Blunden Mr Green Mr Oblitas Miss M Y u Mrs Visick Mr AM Hardie Mrs Panlela Sadler Mrs Visick Mr E Blunden Mr Green Miss M Yu Mr Hardie Mrs Blunden Fr I I. Dargan. SJ Mr E Blunden Mrs CM Blunden Mr Green Mr P Duval Smith Mr Hardie Miss Yu Mr T C Lai Mr E Blunden Mrs CM Blunden Mr Green Mr Duval Smith Mr Hardie Mr T C Lai Miss Amelia lee Mr E Blunden Mrs CM Blunden Mr Green Miss (Dr) BE Rooke Mrs Visick Mr T C Lai Miss Yvonne Mui Mr E Blunden Mrs CM Blunden Miss Margaret Yu Miss D Khenilyani Mr Hardie Mrs M Board Miss V Cheuy Miss P Janne Miss Anne Choy Mr E Blunden Mr Green Mrs Visick Miss M Yick Mr Hardie Mrs M Board Mr J Necdllam Miss I.lele11Chang Miss Anr~eChoy Mrs C M Blunden Mr Ian Mclachlnn Miss V Chel~y Mr Green Mr E Blunden Mr Green Mr E Blunden Mr Green Mr E Blunden Mr Green (Dean) Mr E Blunden Mrs Helen Kwok Mrs Amelia Sun Appendix 9 Renaldo Oblitas Volunteer Defence Corps 1941; Superintendent of Prisons 1947; Com- O'BRI~N, ~AVI~ED WARD -WILLIAM missioner of Prisons 1953; went to Rangoon to attend United Nations O'Brien, David Edward William, Assistant Superintendent ol Seminar on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders Police; born March r5th, 1927; British; married; :~ppointetl Sub- 1954; Chairman, Quarters Allocation Committee, 1957; went to Tokyo, Inspector, .Hongkong, 1952; Acting Assistant Superintendent 1956; 1957; Commissioner of Prisons 1957 to date; Fellow: Royal Empire Assistant Superintendent 1956 to (late. Society, Alleyn Club; Member: Hongkong Club, Hongkong Jockey Club; Chairman, London Scottish Old Comrades Association, Hong- Address : Police Headquarters, Arsenal Street, Nongkong. kong Branch; Oficial Justice of the Peace; President, The Stanley Club. ODELL, HARRY OSCAR Address: Prisons Department, Prison H.Q., Arbuthnot Road, Odell, Harry Oscar, Managing Director, International Films, Ltd.; Hongkong. born March 18th, 1896, Cairo, Egypt; British; Hebrew; married; pro- fessional career, impresario; served in American Army, (1st Worltl NORONHA, HENRIQUE A. War) and Hongkong Naval Volunteers, (2nd World War); Member: Jewish Recreation Club, American Club, Royal Hongkong Golf Club, Noronha, Henrique A,, Sub-Manager, The First National City Foreign Correspondents' Club, Rotary Club of I-Iongkong, I-Iongkong Bank of New York; born July nth, Igrr, Hongkong; British; Roman Toastmasters Club. Catholic; married; educated St. Joseph's College, Hongkong; served Addresses: 107 I-Iolland House, Hongkong or 8 Castle Steps, Mongkong Volunteer Defence Corps ,1941 - 46; Member :, American Club, Club Lusitano, Club de Recreio, Royal Hongkong Golf Club, Lower Flat, I-Iongkong. Hongkong Jockey Club, Craigengower Cricket Club, Victoria Recrea- tion Club, Little Flower Club, Hongkong Automobile Association. O'DONNELL, JERRY Addresses: Queen's Road, C. or g Garden Terrace, Hongkong. O'Donnell, Jerry, Aviation Director, Pail American World Air- ways; born October 16th) 1916, New York City, New York, United States of America; Alnrrican; Roman Catholic; B.A., Manhattan NORTON, GEORGE PERCY College, New York City; Aviation Director, Pan American Worltl Norton, George Percy, Chief Architect, Public Works Department; Airways, Hongkong, China, Macao; Member: Rotary Club of I-Iong- kong, American Club, Royal Hongkong Club, Shek-0 Country Club, born November nth, 1914; British; married; A.R.I.B.A.; appointed American University Club, Skal Club, I-Iongkong Tourist Association, Architect 1947; Acting Chief Architect 1952 - 1956; Chief Architect Wings Club, New York City. 1956; Acting Assistant Director, Public Works Department, 1957 to date. Address: c/o Pan American World Airways Inc., Alexandra House, Hongkong. Address: Public Works Department, Central Government Offices, Lower Albert Road, 4th FI. Main Wing, Hongkong. ..., . O'HANRAHAN, JOHN ANTONY O'Hanrahan, John Antony, Lecturer, Northcote Training College; OBLITAS, RENALDO born August 25th, 1913; B.A. Dublin University, Post Graduate Course, & Louvain University, Belgium, London University, England, Diplon~n Oblitas, Renaldo, Assistant Registrar, University of tlon$-kong; of Education (Lond.); appointed Master, King George V School, born January 8th, 1921, Bolivia; British; Church of England; married; Hongkong, 1951; Lecturer, Chamber of Commerce 1951 - 1952; Chair- educated at Sloane School, Exhibitioner, Pembroke College, Cambridge; man, "Lectures to Prisoners" Stanley, 1353; Permanent Establishment received B.A., M.A.and Certificate in Education, Cambridge; English 1953; Lecturer, Evening Institute 1956; Lecturer, Northcote Training Master, Hailegburg and Imperial Service College; Lecturer in English College 1957 to date. Language and Literature, University of Hongkong; Captain, Hongkong Address: c/o Northcote Training College, Bonham Roacl, Regiment, Roya!_H_gko~g~e.nce_-Forcei Member : Hongkong Hongkong. Stage Club, O&rda~,d Cambridee Club, Tenancy Tribunal, Advisory Committee on Entertainmeqt Tax, Cjty Hall Committee. OLIPHANT, REGINALD GODFREY LAURENCE Addresses : c/o University of Hongkong and Th~~~WardenlsHouse, : Oliphant, Reginald Godfrey Laurence, J.P., Mana er, Mongkong, Universitj;!:~Hall, Hongkong. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation; f orn November >fanaging Director, Harry Ode11 Pro- duc:ions Ltd.. Rooin 1:1. 9. Ice House S:rs?t. Hongkong. Tei: 311532; 8, Castle Steps. Tsi: 2;462-l. until 1939; Chief Instructor, School of % OBLITAS. R., ED., k1.A. Artillery, Apr. 1951-Dec. 1952; Posted (Cantab.) Cert. Ed. (Cantab.) to BOAR as CRA of an armoured dividion until 1955; Director of Plans. War Office; Command of 6 Armoured &Ianager, The City Hall, Hongkong. Division in Jan. 1957 and later be- Tel: 235466. came C.A.1. Imperial Dtfence College in Feb. 19jS; Appointed General Born 5.1.1921, La Pnz, Bolvia; Bri- tish; Church Ercgland; hIarried Otficer Commandins. Aldershot with ran, Educ. District, in Feb. 1960 and in 1962 Sioane School, Pembroke College, Vice Chief Of Defence Exhibitioner, Fernbroke Staff. Jlinistry of Defence; (lxnmm- der, Bi itish Forces, Hongkong. Com~asterof Arts, Certificate of Education, University of Cambridge. ODELL, 3Lrs. Sophie Rachel Awarded Efficiency Decoration 1963; ~{~~~kh Manager. City Hall, Hongkong; hlajor, Tne Hongkong Regiment Housewife. 8, Castle S:eps, How- (The Volunteers); Member of the kong. Tel: 236614. Court. University of Hongkong. Born 1 1.12.1900. Hongkon$; British; >tarried; 9.1.21 to H~TJOscar Odell; Educ. France: Central British school, Kowloon. Honzkong. 0' CO?iiOR, Lieut-General Sir Denis Stuart Scott, K.B.E., C.B. yice-Chairman & Committee &fern- her, Hongkong \Vomcn'j Inrernational Commander, British Forces, Hong- club; commirtee Slsiilber, Family kong. Flagstaff House, Hongkong. Planning .&sociatior. of Hongkong: Born: 1.7.1907. Simla. India; Married. Jewish Recreaiion Cl::i?. 2 sons 1 daughter; Educ. Harrow and Roy31 IIilitary Academy, Woolwich. -+ Awarded: O.B.E.. C.B.E., C.B., K.B.E., mentioned in despatches. Commissioned into Royal Artillery in OLSON, Lpn Helge 1927; Posted to India, 1929-36; Went to Franc= with the British EX- American Cor.sill. 25 Glilen Road, peditionary Force in 1939; Landed Hongkong, Tel: 1190!1 Ex:. 257; 15 Normandy in Command of a hfedium 51:. Cameron Read. Horgliong, Tel: Regiment of Artillery in 1944; Posted 960 :1. to SEhC in 1945 and in 1946 was ODELL, Hnrrp Oscar P0s:ed to MELF % appointed Brigs- B~~~ 5.1.19 1;. >~i~.~.eqo:is,Minne- der Ge-era1 Staff Plans & Operations . ?$ sa;,. c.s.A.: .~-srica:; llarried; Appendix 10 An Obituary of Dr. Katherine Whitaker (Lai Po Kan) Staff Development Events Dr Katherine Whitaker (LA1 Po Kan) To all staff: (Reader in Classical Chinese) The Staff Development Section are pleased to announce funher events. For funher details and to 31 March 1912 - 2 April 2003 book a place on each event. please contact Sonia Robinson. Staff Development on [email protected] or on extension 1123. Katherine LA1 Po Kan came from a vibrant family of some professional d~st~nctlonin Hong Academic Development Kong. where an elder sister. a doctor. still li~es. hfedia Training for Academic Stafl- a one-day and where an older brother is remembered even -,. ae, workshop aimed primarily at academic staff wishing now as the first and most famous sports corn- to develop their skills in dealing with the media. This h~ghlyinteractive session will enable you to mentator on Radio Hong Kong. Her first de- practise both radio and TV interviewing in a safe gree was from the University of Hong Kong in environment. Tuesday 27th May. 93Oam - 5pm 1934 and she then won the only Boxer Indem- nity Fund Scholarship available from China in Dyslexia in Higher Education - a two-hour session aimed at all academic and teaching staff. This 1936. going to St. Anne's Oxford and gradu- session will raise awareness of Dyslexia within the ating with BA (Hons) English in 1938. Re- School by examining problems faced by Dyslexic turning to Hong Kong she became the first students in Higher Education and how best to respond. The School's internal provision and Chinese holder of a teaching appointment in procedures will also be presented and discussed. the English Department of the University. She Wednesday 14th May. 1 - 3pm left the colony ahead of the Japanese invasion BasicInrerculturalTrainingSkills-this two-day of 1941 and back in Britain taught Cantonese and lectured on Chincsc. culturc for the course will be run at SOAS by intercultural training Ministry of Information. travelling down to Bristol University from Jedburgh in Scot- experts for an audience from SOAS and outside, The course will help panicipants to develop skills land where she was living with her husband. It was as Xlrs Katherine Whitaker that for delivering effective intercultural training she applied in 1944 for a full-time appointment as Special Lecturer in Chinese at SOAS, programmes and supponing materials. It is aimed at staff who have limited experiencein a trainin. as commencing her duties on I st January 1945. In 1952 she was a\varded the PhD for lo leaching role and ~hohaveaninterest in work on the modified tones of Cantonese, and in 1956 she Lvas promoted to Reader in providing intercultural training and consultancy to clients who are wor~nginternationallv, Classical Chinese. the post she held until she retired in 1979. For further details. please contact Louise ~obens. I Business Development Manager. Interface. on extn. 1837. email [email protected] reserve a place At the School she taught Cantonese and classical Chinese. delivering her classes with please contact Sonia Robinson, as above. great verve and humour. revelling in not being embarrassed by the 'naughty bits' in Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th July literary texts. sometimes sharply sarcastic to~vardsstudents who were not as commit- Rapid Reading lvorkshop - a one-day workshop ted to their work as she felt they should be. but a lasting inspiration to all. She chaired aimed at all academic and support staff wishing to the Examinations Sub-board for some years. deputised as Head of Chinese Section minimise their reading time to make more time mailable for other purposes. when needed, and under the urging of Professor Walter Simon produced an impressive Wednesday 7th May. 9.15am - 5pm amount of published teaching material at a time when textbooks of Chinese were few. Her research interests continued to develop through philology. drama and poetry to Professional Updating Buddhism. and in retirement she extended her readings in Buddhism to the study of Recognising Diversity in Higher Education - a two Tibet. At the same time she continued to teach Chinese at Westminster School until as hour session aimed at all middle and senior academic and non-academic managers. Rapid late as 1996. developments in legislation. the increased importance given to diversity and equality of opportunity on the pan of government and funding Her personal life was for some years far from happy. but at S0.U she found friend- councils. and rising levels of expectation on the pan ship, fulfilment and respect. and when retirement and a single life coincided she more of staff and students present challenges to us all. than made up for the years of self-denial. travelling the world on adventurous journeys The Director of the Higher Education Equality Challenge Unit will sun-ey these interacting of cultural discovery regardless of physical hardships which might have daunted much developments. and explain the changing nature of younger people. She was a sturdy individualist. an irrepressible spirit. n realist but not our responsibilities. Tuesday 13th \lay. loam - 12noon a pessimist. When she was up at Oxford she was rated a great beaut!. and a photograph of her at Henley Regatta appeared as the cover portrait of Pictiire Posr. the best-selling IT Training illustrated magazine of its day. She was proud of that. hut not inordinately so. and HT.\IL - L'sing FrontPage 2000 - a half-day course there was no contradiction between her youthful beaut!. and the dou~ht!septua, oenar- aimed at staff with a basic knowledge of compurcrs. ian who stumped across Himalayan mountains. who also have responsibility within the School for writing and updating their Depwmentall Faculty Web pages. No previous knowledge of HTSIL or Katherine had been frail for the last year or trio. She died in Hong Konp t\vo days after FrontPage is assumed. Wednesday 13rd April. 2pm - 5pm her 9 1 st birthday. Firrlercrl drtczils rvill be n1117o~rrlcrdlarer: 1 Hiiyh Bokrr- Appendix 11 Extracts of R. K. M. Simpson's Wartime Memoir Appendix 11 Extracts from R. K. M. Simpson's wartime memoir My erudite and cheerfully cynical fnend the late Harry Macnamara, who by long experience on the western front in World War I, had certainly learned to face the homfying vicissitudes of military fallibility, was aghast when, on being evacuated after capitulation from the military post to the University hospital, he found me reading Shakespeare. When he had verified the appalling fact, the shock was so strong that he held back the words that could hardly express it. It is possible he felt that to surrender Hong Kong to Japan was relinquishing the right to read Shakespeare. Perhaps, monumental bookrnen as he has always been, he felt we had now morally given up the right to read anything at all. There may be capitulations [sic] which do not involve a humiliation of national pride. We can take them in history. But this impending capitulation for the men around me, was not like that. It was not history to be studied, but actuality to be faced. (133- 134) The Number One Boy (Ah Fung) from my house brought me some letters and Hardin Craig's Shakespeare; edition of the plays with compendious critical apparatus ... In the outcome, this book was to prove most valuable. Reading groups were well formed around it in the hospital, and later in the prisoner camp. Through that volume, not only the plays, but the criticism, historical and even textual, incredible as this might appear, became a living interest of wide range to all sorts of men. (153) I was reproved by one man for encouraging people to lecture on Shakespeare who had known nothing of the bard in a scholarly way, till they came into camp. In my copy of Hardin Craig's Shakespeare they could find more of fact and criticism than students can master in years, and to the natural pleasure of acquiring knowledge, camp life has added the exercise of digesting it in composition, plus a sense of achievement (tonic for prisoners), by expounding it, "in the dark." Surely there was reason for pride, in seeing better audience for the lecturer who had just discovered Hardin Craig on Shakespeare, than for the tyro who had just discovered Culbertson on bridge. (178) Simpson, Robert Kennedy Muir. These Defenceless Doors: a Memoir of Personal Experience in the Battle of Hong Kong, and Afier. S.1.: s.n., 19--? Appendix 12 The Arts and English Curriculum Appendix 12a Faculty of Arts HKU Calendar, 1917-18 List of subjects 1. English 2. Economic Geography 3. History 4. Classical Chinese 5. Pure Mathematics 6. Applied Mathematics 7. Logic and Scientific Method 8. Physics Faculty of Arts HKU Calendar, 1929-30 Grouping of subjects 1. Letters and Philosophy - English, History, Logic, Ethics, Chinese or Psychology, Geography etc 2. Experimental Science - English, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics 3. Social Science - English, History, Logic, Chinese or French, Geography, Statistics, Psychology, Economic History, Ethics, Jurisprudence, Political Economy, Political Science etc 4A. For Teachers of Mathematics and Science - English, Chemistry, Maths, Physics, Theory of Education, Educational Philosophy, Psychology 4B. For Teachers of General Subjects - English, History, Geography, Logic, Chinese or French, Geography, Biology, Theory of Education, Educational Philosophy etc 5. Commercial Training - English, Geography, History, Chinese or French, Pure Maths with Statistical Method and Analytical Theory of Value, Economic History, Accounting, Commercial Law, Business Finance Appendix 12b English Department 1917-18 Syllabus of Subjects in the Intermediate Course First Year (a) Study of the following books:- Green's Short History of the English People Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield Macaulay's Essays on Clive and Hastings Scott's Quentin Duiward (b) More advanced study of English grammar. Oral and written reproduction of set passages Required books:- Marshall and Schaap's A Manual of English for Foreign Students Bank's Passages for Reproduction Second Year (a) History of English Literature (b) Elements of English Phonetics (c) Study of books set for Intermediate Examination:- Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice Milton, Paradise Lost, I-I1 Narratives from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Goldsmith's The Good-Natur 'd Man Sheridan, The Rivals Scott, Waverley Sarnpson's Nineteenth Century Essays Steveson, Treasure Island (Suggested reference: Edrnunds and Spooner's The Story of English Literature Saintsbury's Short History of English Literature Edmunds and Spooner's Readings i~zEnglish Literature) Third Year (a) History of English Literature, 1780-1830 (b) The development of the novel in the same period (c) Discussion of the books set for the Final Examination Fourth Year (a) History of English Literature, 1830-1900 (b) The development of the novel in the same period (c) Further discussion of the books set for the Final Examination Required books:- Saintsbury's 19'" Century Literature Herford's Age of Wordsworth Walker's Age of Tennyson Cross's Development of the English Novel Suggested Reference:- Elton's English Literature 1780-1830 Walker's Literature of the Victorian Era Set books for the Final Examination in 1918:- Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads Tennyson, Enoch Arden and the Two Lochley Halls Browning, Men and Women (Selected) Scott, Waverley Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit R. L. Steveson, Catriona Edmunds and Spooner, Readings in English, Senior Course (Vo1.3) Carlyle, Heroes and Hero- Worship Burke, Refections on the French Revolution Arnold, Essays in Criticism (Vol.1) Appendix 13 English Literary Courses in the Department of Extra-Mural Studies, HKU 1961-1962 .. . 6, Ou-- : NOVELS AND POEMS CHARLES UtlB (1775-189L1 . .- (6 meetings, once weekly) (5 meetings, once weekly) Course Fee $10 Course Fee $12 I\ltor : Professor Edmund Blunden, C.B.E., M.C. M.A. (&on. ),F.R.S.L. I Department of English, University of Hong Kong. Professor Blunden writes: "Charles Lamb was one of the unusual people who combine a business career with authorship, and,in this instance, with pmnent literary achievement. His "Essays of Eliai' remain among the masterpieces of English prose, his letters among the finest of their kind, his poems occasLonally memorable - but he and his sister Mary also produced "Tales from Shakespeare", a Lamb's private history is sadly interesting. book not yet superseded. The course will be conducted in English and will meet on He incidentally had an official concern with the Far East which is ursday at 6.0 p.m. in the British Council, Buckingham Building, oddly responsible for the amusing essay ITtoast Pig". than Road, Kowloon, starting 5th October, 1961. This course is designed for all who are interested in If the students so wish this course can be expanded to 1.0 English and English studies. The course Hill be conducted in English and wlll meet on Tuesday at 5.h5 p.m. in the University Main Building, starting 3rd October, 1961. it 4 it U u 4t BRITISH DRAMA IN THE 19501s (6 meetings, once weekly) Course Fee $12 F THE ENGLISH NOVEL (2~,meetings, once weekly) Tutor : W.I. McLachlan, B.A.(&O~.) Course Fee $118 Assistant Lecturer, Department of English, University of Mary Visick, M.A., B.Litt.(~xon. Lecturer in the Ilepart- Hong Kong. 1, men& of English at the University of Jiong Kong. This course provides an introduction to the so-called . 'renaissance' of British drama in the past decade, concentrating on the Younger Dramatists, in particular John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, John Arden, Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett. An attempt will be made to assess some of the social and literary reasons for the modern tendencies, and to trace the various influences from Europe and America. The following plays will bs discussed: Look Back in Anger (~ohnOsborne) . Waiting for Godot (~amuelBeckett A11 That Fall (Samuel Beckett). The Birthday Party(Harold Pinter) I'm Talking About Jerusalem (Arnold Hesker) . Serjeant Musgravei s Dance (John Arden) (~enguin,~aberand Methuen Paperbacks) Each meeting will last for 14 hours and, if the students If the students so wish this course can be expanded to 10 substantial study of meetings. Students are urged to read the above playsto which particular reference will be made. 11 be conducted in English and will meeton p.m. in the University Main Building, starting 1,th The course will be conducted in English and will meet on Tueedays at 5.45 p.m. in the Catholic Centre, 15-17 Connaught Road Central ,starting 9th January, 1962. Appendix 14a "The Comparison between Local Undergraduates and those of England" 1955 Appendix 14b Some thoughts of a student of the Chinese Department about the discrimination helshe experienced as a Chinese Major 1959 Appendix 15 Edmund Blunden As Director of the Instituie of Oiiental programme, and during the firs: ph~seof the Studies, Professor Drake ~zsrespoi1siSie for programnle itself. His good sense ins~ired rl~edevelopment of important research. iii that confidence 2nd instilled a new spirit of field, for the institution of the Joza-7raL of. co-operation a:xong nlenlbers of the Faculty. O~ie7ztalStudies, and for the organization of 1nuner:se vitality and buoyz~lcy carried the Language School and the Museum of Professor Drake onfroin one task to the next. Cllinese -4rt and -%rchaology. On the occzsion Seeing hiill, in the early morning, stride of the University's Golden Jubilee Congress briskly dong the path through the university in September i961 he organized a successful grou11-ds to his departmect, one sensed the symposium on historical, arcixzological, and zest and vitality JJ-hichhe brought to each new linguistic studies on Southern China, South- day's ~vorl;. And with all his many tasks and East Asia, and Hong Kong. He himself varied activities, he aI\~a)-svalued and main- published numerous papers in sinologiczl tained his close personal contactsn-ith students journals on Chinese history, religion, and art. and staff. He had time and patience for As Dean of the Faculty of Arts between everything except pretentiousness and hurn- 1956 and 1961 Professor Drake provided firm bug. and wise leadership at a critical stage in the Those of us ~x-hohave been his close col- life of the Faculty, when it n7as drawing up leagues and friends feel the better for having its plans for the current seven-year expansion ho\m him and worked with him. PROFESSOR EDMUND BLUNDEN Professor A. IY. T. Green mites: the time was ripe for some of them to go on to Edmund Blunden arrived in Hong Rang in higher degrees a regular stream of subjects came from the 'Prof.'sY books zcd PaDers: October 1953 when the Faculty 17-2s just AA , embarking on Honours degrees; after a short diligently; losyingly collected over the pears, time he was nominated to the Council;. and in liberally-. put at the disposal of the lover of 1955 he became a Founder- Fellow of St. literature. . . . -.. Jolm's College. Teaching, administration, Blunden spoke to Hong Kong in two English new ventures in the University, he was soon 'voicesy-poetry and cricket. A broken collar- in the thick of it. In those ear~i-~earshis zest bone in-1955 'ended his wicket-keeping ; he and ever ready responsiveness belied his years. was a hawk-like but unobtrusive micket- It was and has remained exhilarating to sliare kee~er.He I laved r on for five more vears. His some corners of his working hours' occupa- s&oping saves (or misses) at mid-iff and hi: tions. But his leisure also 11-as as often as not left foot a yard up the pitch as he off-drove given to companionship and fertile sharing of ~s;ilZremain the physical picture of him in 2 his thoughts. His officiaIappointments brought good many Hong Kong memories. him friends in plenty; his generosity in As the Professor of English he was essen- friendship, his gifts, and his taste opened to tially the poet. An American novelist recordec -him in Hong Kong as elsewhere many other that as he read another's novel he 'participated doors. Few inritations were refused, however in a lot of the TI-ritingproblems as they czmt arduous or awkward the request; but most of along'. This is how Blunden teaches literature those he leaves behind ~villremember being less concerned to inter~retthe effect on tht his guests. If you mere invited to his house- mythical 'unprejudiced reader' but reaching or just dropped in-~.ou were as like as not for the moment of identity between write? welcome to the riches of his bookshe1~:es as and reader or audience. Hence his insight intc \%-ellas to the treasures of his mind and$ certain critics. Hence the illuminating powe: friendship. His readiness to share his store- of his parodies. Some would reject the tern house lxras what astonished his pupils and 'parody'. Even his adaptation of Keats' LI glued them to him. Small \yonder that when BeEe Danze once pinned on the Department': 52 UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG GAZETTE Vol. XI notice board taught; so did the Miltonic lines interpreter of all ages of English. Only, the he used to compose at Senate or Faculty Romantic period 'at%-akened sight' as no meetings; so could his Epithalamion for an other age could, and he took his pupils there unusual University celebration very early one with the readiest delight to awaken their morning-still to be collected. As might be vision. He himself quickened imitation; to the expected in one who could read any passage in Hong-. . - Rong student of talent he has proved the Bible when he was three for him the poet astonishmgly imitable-at a distance. Not a is the Prophet and most poems Parables. It few will in the end narrow the gap. .- was on these terms that he taught and gave Those who were fortunate enough to be direction; and that his tenure of the Chair had his immediate colleagues have admlred the stature and lustre. modesty and the consideration and the more \ The English language has no periods for rarely displayed fierce faith Blunden has. He 1 him. His own poetry shows it. So he has been led from out in front. ALAN WINTON THOMAS GREEN, M.A. (Oxon.) Mr. A. 'CV. T. Green, Senior Lecturer in College, Hull, and from there in 1951 he Linsistics at this University, was appointed joined the University of Hang Kong as Senior to the Chair of English to succeed Professor Lecturer in Linguistics. Since 1961 he has l3mund Blunden when he retired in May been Head of the Department of English. In this year. March this year he was elected Dean of the - Mr. Green entered Merton College, Oxford, - --Faculty - - - - in 1936 where he read Greats until his studies were intermpted by the war in 1939. He , His research interest is in the field of serr-ed in the amy for six years and returned L linguistics, with particular reference to the to Oxford to read English in 1946. methods and problems of the use of English On graduation in 1948 he was appointed as the medium of instruction for students Assistant Lecturer in English at University ~vhosemother tongue is Cantonese.- NOTICES Dates of Terms (1964-65) Tenable 'in the United Kingdom: First Term begins September 1, 1964 Daniel Chan Ktvong On, to studv for a First Full Term begins September 28, 1964 Ph.D. degree in comGratiGe endocIkology First Full Term ends December 12, 1961 at the University of Sheffield; First Term ends December 20, 1964 Chan King pan, for postgraduate studies leading to the F.R.C.S.? and an M.Ch. degree Second Term begins January 1, 1965 at the Institute of Baslc Medical Science in Second Full Term begins January 4, 1965 London and the University of Liverpool; Second Full Term ends . , , March 6, 1965 ~MaryChan Man Yue, to study for a Ph.D. Second Term ends March 19, 1965 degree in history at the University of London; Third Term begins &larch 26, 1965 (Mrs.) Mimi Chan, to study for an B11.A. Third Full Term begins March 29, 1965 degree in comparative linguistics at the Third Full Term ends May 29, 1965 University of London ; David Lai Chuen-yan, to study for an MA. Third Tern ends June 30, 1965 degree in geography at the London School of Conzmonerealth Scholarships, etc. Economics and Political Science; The follou-ing graduates of the University Poon Chung Kn-ong to study for a Ph.D. have been awarded and have accepted Com- degree in chemistry at the University of xoz.:t-ealth Scholarships for 1964-66: London; Ca:ho!ic: Ed~lc.E.S. Cegree-Fin- Lamb Society (Lor.don); Commit- s2ce ar;d Eusinesj ?.dninis:ration; :ti.. Keats-Shelley >lsmorial Asso- Gr;dua:ed from S:;rac~se Univer. ciation; Hon. Blembrr, Japan ..\:a- >i;:, 1949. dsrny. 3I;na:t.r. Bachz & Co. (H.K.). Ltd. 3Ianaging Director, hluller & phipps (China) Ltd.; Director, .\merican Comrr.unity Committee; Director, Americzn Club. BOETSCHI, Jakoh (Jack) BLUNDEN, Edmund Charles, M.A., D.Litt., C.B.E., >Ianag,ing Directcr, Chairman of M.C., C.L., the Board, Alcan Asia Limitad, 1101-2, Charterel Bank Building, Professor, 3, University Path, Tel: 38082. Hongkong. Born 5.6.1924, Schoenholzerswilen, Born 1.11.1896. London; British; Switzerland; Swiss; Protestant; Anglican; Married; Educ. Christ's Married; Educ. Bachelor of EcOEO. Hospital; Queen's College, Oxford. mics (Switzerland). Literary JTorkj: -Undertones of IVai", 191-3: '.Poems of &Ian? Years", 195;; ..A Hong Kong BORDWELL, John H. House", 1962. g. .$ Awarded C.B.E. (Commander oi the Order of the British Empire): Company Directcr. 36, bIacdocne! 3I.C. (World War I); The Queen's Road, Hongkong. Tel: 37778. BOSANQU ET, David Ives, Poetry SIedsl, 1956; Hawthornden Born 4.8.1937, Szn Francisco, Ca!if. ; M.M. Prize, 1922, for "The Shepherd". 1: S.A.: Americ~r.:Roman Catholic Companion of Literatures 1963: D. Ltt. 1963. Educ. B.S. in Business .?.drnir.is:ra- Tel: 94-11;;. HOT.. Literary .qdvijer, Imperial t i o n , Georg?:o~un Cnivx5i::;: \Tar Grayer ~~~~i~~~~~,since School of Foj-~ign Service, '$,-ask- Esrn ?j.?l).!?!' !:?.;sington Gate* Londor.; grit:^::: Ch.;rch of Em- 1936; Vice-Piesibect, C h a r l e c; ington, D.C. LEE LAN FLIES THE DRAGON KITE LA If yo11 \\-ere to ll): from Lorldorl to Nong I Backcover of Blunden's Lee Laiz Flies the Dragon Kite (1 962) 177 Cup 600. B.l. (61) Verses On behalf of the University of HK in honour of the Vice-Chancellor Dr.L.T. Ride's marriage with Miss Violet May Witchell on 12 November, 1954. Assemble, all you paragons of learning, And leave your books, your test-tubes, your board meeting, To welcome our Vice-Chancellor returning With one we knew, his bride, who claims our greeting Even as himself; come young, come old, come all, --- Appear from far Kowloon, from hostel, junk or hall. Come sciences, come Arts; Administration, Quit your huge desk and join the merry throng; And sport, contribute bright congratulation To him, and her, who have toiled so well and long For our advancement. He and she now one, Be theirs long years of all that's best, beneath the sun. Soprano, alto, tenor, bass, your training Must show in song for your choirmaster now; Batsman and bowlers, it's not always raining: Up with your caps to him who taught you how. Each student of quick wit and fair persuasion, Salute your chief on such an eloquent occasion. And all you ladies who contrive so sweetly. To take degrees on each spectator's eyes, Look how this lady speaks for you completely: Attend her now and whisper she is wise. Our entire multitude with single voice Follows you there and sing both ways the Happy Choice. E.B. Appendix 16 The Masquers CbMd 6. " 5 maryJ- 5 jdw ~;lfi /'H&JQJ5 PROLOGUE' 7jzeSccuAP--qirrL L 1 ash= spoken by t 7 00 ~-e~.cr~*5 I Biunde/~ 7iL hi k pis&. .Ijl\okeil by Be1 ene Tch o u fiyou hall see what alee tkgreat pee er -&AIL cIo~'ltill ; [rool! co~~y~aniw~~,-rfiU J&lifcji iii ~2eta niid itmii~or c&ej /Kcvia,, P!$y r 11la~&ea:Wh.2du -AndWilL: ale; i~lasic~cu~nf~the &en boei~o~un~eiL: Jfok lavel lover^, CO/I~%~~J uif, ~/~Jhiiil~lo~diid TI~/ZJ/ kid Jar riiei; ]/f.l~akpeace andy;stii~~e;e U~JI ?! e - &jojnanciil piid +!aie:. 2 cu,*idn rues. 1 E.B. A Chinese translation of the prologue of "Twelfth Night" 5t- &r;' - PROLOGUE wu2-or ~xv Om corn any Lj nlet o~zcemo~e, altR ar ikf Om kind s&c loior.s, soon vie( have in Yvick 7he %ie~t whne fie wiiLtel*wilt4 sA&'.~iy OJI~Lto ire fie hatd the rin , pnc( Pet who win be mduncliou" y ifme, We ahdjrnd luck, love, laugh tm on the air. Meall hle in om myteriuug woad1and de zYouncvel*k~zm thing^ R ayyen wndmu-ied jne ya~r.But in JUC~JCCIIU as this, endue, yod meta~~zoyhosis; j4yjol.instance, OU)* once olivel*fljces tj1.e tabfa fmned on hiZ-fl" ~,~dlac aes j*om his boredoill grow5 a sainY (Jj* n ea I-%. : lo^, nYf,ticndd,jar ~UJ-ofd pi?' Tecorny & y JJ pr4a~-ed ;an~'~ J~,JOI"~ Jam e J ajibyme wdt' &ad u;r Jh ey ea Ir w9. wjt welco~ne, we1 col~te dl; the pronr terj Rand. 13 bell; and &asqciers, now Lyrmid ! . Page 4 THE UNDERGRAD' February, 1961 "Hc jests at scars, that 'ncvcr felt a wound", % GOLDI3.Y JUBILEE PRODUCTION "Parting is such sweet sorrow", or, "What's in a name? that 6hich"wc. 4 ROMEO AND JULIET a rose By any othernamewouldsmell assweet." will undouhtcdly enjoy the play al! the more. Performances: Thursday, 23rd AIarcL, 7.30 p.m. Lct us ytisfy our ears with ~hc'~i;tuk~uedis- ~r'ida~.24th hIarch. 7.30 p.m. :ertation on love by a love.sick young man, a Saturday, 25th hiarch, 8.30 p.m. dissertation which still holds to.day, ' . "Love is a smokc made with the fume of Sunday, 26th hlarch, 8.00 p.m. sighs; hlonday, 27th hlarch, 8.00 p.m. . Bclng purg'd, a firc sparkling in lovers' . - eyes; Tickets: Availnble at the English Department, and Bcing vcx'd, a sca nourish'd with lovers' ' from any hfasqudr tears: What isit else? a madness most discreet, . A choking gal1,and a prese;ving sw&tY Under thc patronage of Professor Edmund Death, which. may otherwise work towards or another by the same men whose'heart has been wounded by Cupid's arrow, Blunclcn, the Masqucrs, once again, with their separation, only serves to bring them into cLoser "Is love a tender thing? it is too rough, produccr Alec M. Hardie undertake a bold and union. Through it, their love is realised, and TOOrude, too boisterous; and it pri+ aml,itious production. They will give a five- the two families are reconciled. like thorn." . , Then, there is Juliet, a girl of hardly fourteen. night performance of "Romeo and Juliet" in who has alrmdy tastcd, the bittei:saeet fruit of the Loke Yew Hall as their contribution And yet. there is the beautiful poetry itself love. Talking'about her love, s" says, to~\*ardsthe celebration of the Golden Jubilee which exalts the whole theme. Those who "h.1~bounty is as bundle& as the sea. Yo~rof the University. bIy love as deep; the more I give to the have already acquainted themselves with Th? more I have, for both are infiiite" . quotations like: .. . . By the way, who among the under. , "Romeo and Juliet", one of thc early gradua~cshevc thc snle fccling? plays by Shakespeare, in which Ioie, tragedy .- . In staging this tragic story of Romco. Ad and poctry all roll into onc,., has ling been the / Pholographls 51ac1ety Sponsors Julict, thd~asqueishave devoted much of their ' modcl of true love in the hegts of men. In the time and energy. A'stafi-student and griduatt hero and the heroine, we eee how love can body, thcy havc now cnjo~edan uncfiallenghble : . . 1. reputation in thc Colony. They first startd ' haw the power to move the mountains Dceply i II! commemoration of the Golden Jubilee with "Cornus" in 1956 witha small cast, and,th'en in love with each othcr, they arc, however, of .he University, the Photographic Socicty thcy welt through "As You Like It","Twllftir kcpt asunder besause of their family feud. To is sponsoring an Undergrad photographic Night". "Fivc SCCIIOSFrom, shakes&ren, competition. Details are as fol1o.r~~. "Thc Duchcss of h,lalfi", and now come to them, love is mixed with fear, as indeed the "Romeu and Juliet" with no 1,~sthan' fifty 1. This conlpetition is open to Union shadow of death looms over their lot The students and'graduates taking park on the stage. members only. course of true love, rve .have been told by 2. Any number of photographs may be In this production, there wiil be incidental Sllakcspsare in "A Mid-summer Night's submitted. music srnngcd end directed by Dr. S. M. Bard Dream", never did run smooth. But the< "as 3. Themes: a) University life The sets are designed by Lo ~ingMan with long as love is lie's Jlumination" (to borrow a b) Free subject I I advice from Douglas Bland, the Colony's a&L line from Professor Blunden's Prologue) true 4.' Judge : Miss M. Tregdr As in the past, Professor ~lundenhas written a prologue for it. The play. is produced bg love will eventuilly shine througl? tile surface 5. Prizes : 1st pike.. .$50 gift coupon .. . Alee M..Hardie. filoom. It is this love that makes Romeo drink 2nd Prize .'. .@Igift coupon 3rd Prize.. .$2.0 gift coupon . COME TO THE.. . . the wisonous cup, thinking that by so doing he I Honourable Mention . : . . . UNION NIGHT 3rJ hlsr~h,1961 lnay join Juliet who appears to be dead by his films or photographic mater- I 8.15 p.m. side. With equal courage, Juliet ends her 1 ials. 111 Loke Yew 8.11 .. i I ': 40th ANNUAL ATHLETIC hlEEl?' life, now that lie is not worth living, 6. Closing date: March 31, 1961. I 4th hlarch. 1961 with Romeo gone. Nottin? can separate thel- -- -- 1.00 p.m. , li -.- --- . .-. - - - - - .--- _ _ Ill Bibliography Primary Sources Public Records BW 21369. English Association. Chairman Report by Arundell Esdaile. October, 1944. BW 21369. English Association. A letter from Harold Goad to Boas, Chairman of the Developments Sub-committee, the Executive Committee of the English Association. lothMay, 1944. BW 21369. English Association. 3 Crornwell Place. London. October, 1944. Chairman: Arundell Esdaile. BW 901585. HKU Advisory Committee. Confidential Note on Salary scales by Mr. Duncan Sloss. [c. 19401 BW 901585. Hong Kong University Advisory Committee. Confidential. No. HKUAC 18. Part A. Extracts from a lecture given by Professor W. J. Hinton on April 2nd April, 1941 to the Royal Central Asian Society in London on "Hong Kong's place in the British Empire". BW 901585. Hong Kong University Advisory Committee. Confidential. A note by Professor K. H. Digby, the Professor of Surgery and Senior Member of the staff of the University, which was read to members and staff in Stanley Internment Camp. No. HKUAC 9. Dated 9'b December, 1944. BW 901585. Hong Kong University Advisory Committee. Confidential. No. HKUAC 3. The Future of Hong Kong University- Memorandum submitted by the Colonial Office to the Far Eastern Committee of the War Cabinet. Offices of the War Cabinet, S. W. 1. Dated 2othFebruary, 1945. BW 901585. Confidential. Extract from a letter from Sir Andrew Caldecott, K. C. M. G., Former Chancellor of the University. n. d. [c. 1945-461 BW 901585. Hang Kong University Advisory Committee. Draft minutes of the third meeting of the Committee (confidential) held in the Conference Room at the Colonial Office, Downing Street. Dated 4" March, 1946. CO 12915 11. "General Conditions of Service". co 129151114. ff 1-3 pp 1-118 [from: 1928-04-28 to: 1928-09-061 Document: 51114 Enclosure 4: copy of a report on appointment of a lecturer and tutor in English by the University of Hong Kong. CO 1291531. Copy of memorandum submitted to the Universities China Committee on HKU, September, 1931. CO 1291531. A copy of memorandum submitted by Lord Lugard to the Universities China G-mmittee on HKU in September, 1931. CO 87711. "Special qualifications desirable for the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong." A confidential note written by Claud Severn. Dated 27th September, 1920. Co 10451470. G. A. C. Herklots. "A New Hong Kong University." A memorandum from a report submitted to D. J. Sloss in Stanley Internment Camp, 1945. 1-7. CO 10451470. Walter Fletcher. A copy of letter to A Creech Jones. Dated 3 1" January 1946. CO 10451475. "University of Hong Kong- Present Position." A report by Duncan Sloss. Dated 2othJuly, 1949. CO 1045/475. Summary of Candidates for the Vice-Chancellorship of the University of Hong Kong FO 22813201. W. J. Hinton's personal letter to Swire, with reference to the criticisms of Hongkong University. Dated 4thApril, 1920. FO 371123519. D. J. Sloss. A letter to Beresford, University Grant Committee. Dated 6thJuly, 1939. FO 371165653. Hong Kong University. The copy letter to Sir T. Lloyd regarding financial assistance towards re-establishment of Hong Kong University. [c. 19451 FO 371146429- War Cabinet. Far Eastern Committee. "The Future of Hong Kong University." Memorandum by the Colonial Office. Dated 8" March, 1945 FO 371146249. "Future of Hong Kong University." Transmits copy of letter of 20" February, 1945 from Mr. Gent to Mr. Annstrong (War Cabinet Offices) enclosing for circulation to the Far Eastern Committee a memorandum on the future of Hong Kong University. ---. A memorandum to the Far Eastern Committee on the future of the University after the Second World War. Dated gthMarch, 1945. FO 924/570. "B. B. C. Monitoring Service in Moscow". Moscow 16.00. Dated 19" November, 1946. FO 9241610A. A minute record on "Re-establishment of Hong Kong University". 6" February, 1947. University Archives Arts Faculty, University of Hong Kong. Reports on the Faculty of Arts (English Departmental Reports). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University, 1926-1963. Blunden, Edmund. Inaugural Lecture from the Chair of English. University of Hong Kong. Supplement to the Gazette. Vol. 1, No. 1, lStApril, 1954. Published by the Authority. ---. Verses: On behalf of the University of Hong Kong in honour of the Vice- Chancellor Dr. L. T. Ride's marriage with Miss Violet May Witchell on 12~~ November, 1954. Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: Miscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. Ed. Bernard Mellor. s. 1.: s. n., 1974. Edmund Blunden: Sixty Five. Ed. Chan Wah Ching, Lo King Man, Yung Kai Kin. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Cultural Enterprise Co., 1961. Fenwick, A. H. "Chinese Studies in the University." Education Journal. Hong Kong University. No. 6. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1931 a. ---.Memorandum of Chinese Studies. Hong Kong: s. n., 1931b. Forster, Lancelot. "The New Curriculum in China and the Old Studies." Education Journal. Hong Kong University. No. 6. Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1931. Harris, Roy. "The Worst English in the World?" Inaugural Lecture from the Chair of English Language. University of Hong Kong. Supplement to the Gazette. Vol. XXXVI, No. 1. Published by Authority. Dated 24" April, 1989. Hong Kong. Committee on Higher Education. Report of the Committee on Higher Education in Hong Kong, tabled in the Legislative Council, 17th September, 1952. Chaired by John Keswick. Hong Kong: Government Printer, 1952. Hong Kong Album. Hong Kong: P. C. Lee, 1963-64; 1965-66. Hornell, William. The University of Hong Kong: Its Origin and Growth. Hong Kong: Ye Olde Printerie, Ltd., 1925. ---."The Hong Kong University and the Boxer Indemnity." National Review. July, 1929.765-774. Jennings, I. and D. W. Logan. A Report on the University of Hong Kong [September 19531, Hong Kong: the University, 1954. Lugard, Frederick D. Memorandum. The Hongkong University Scheme and the Scheme of the "China Emergency Committee." Hong Kong. 7th May, 1909. Collected in The Conception and Foundation of the University of Hong Kong: hfiscellaneous Documents, 1908-1913. s. I.: s. n., 1974. ---. Minutes of a meeting with reference to a proposed Hongkong University, Hong Kong, 1908. ---. Hong Kong University: Objects, History, Present Position and Prospects. Reprint with Speeches Delivered at the Ceremony of Laying the Foundation Stone on 16th March, 1910. Hong Kong: Noronha, 19 10. Ride, Lindsay. Whither Higher Education? Hong Kong: s. n., 1956. Simpson, R. K. M. The Western Theatre in the Far East. An Account of W. Sinclair's Work in Hongkong as Illustrated by the Exhibit of Models and Photographs at Wembley. Hong Kong, 1924. ---."The Difficulties of English." Lectures Delivered before the Hong Kong Branch of the English Association, Hong Kong: Hong Kong Branch of the English Association, 1929.25-37. ---."Phonetics: In the Study and Teaching of English." Ten More: A Collection of Essays on Subjects Chiefly Literary. Hong Kong: printed by the South China Morning Post. [c. 19301. 87-99. ---. Ten More: A Collection of Essays on Subjects Chiefly Literary. Hong Kong: printed by the South China Morning Post, [c. 19301. ---.Further Shakespeare: A Series of Lectures Delivered on the Wireless under the Auspices of the Hong Kong Broadcasting Committee. Hong Kong: Kelly and Walsh, 1931. ---.Diversions. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Daily Press, 1933. ---.The Student Reader. Hong Kong: s. n., 1933. ---.These Defenceless Doors: A Memoir of Personal Experience in the Battle of Hong Kong, and After. s. 1.: s. n. [c. 19451. University Ordinance, 191 1, no. 10 of 1911. Hong Kong: s. n., 1911. University of Hong Kong. University Calendar. 1913- 1964 ---. Report of the University (1937) Committee. Hong Kong Government Report Online. ---. Department of Extra-mural Studies. Prospectus. Hong Kong: the Department. 1961-62. ---.Gazette. Vol. XI. NO. 5. 1 August, 1964. University of Hong Kong Students' Union. Arts Association. <-+&k*+fi: -LL-EJIJ@EB@>> (Sixty-sixth Anniversary of HKU). Hong Kong: Arts Association Editorial Board, 1978. Hong Kong University Students' Union. Union Magazine. Hong Kong: the Union. ---.The Hong Kong Undergrad. Hong Kong: the Union. ---. The Undergrad. Hong Kong: the Union. University of Hong Kong: the Rockefeller Endowment Correspondence. Hong Kong: Ye Olde Printerie, Ltd., 1923. Interviews Mr. Patrick Yu Shuk Siu. 22ndJune, 2002. Hong Kong. Dr. Leung Man Wah Bentley. 5th August, 2002. West Sussex, England. Dr. Rayson Huang. 4thNovember, 2002. Hong Kong. Secondary Sources Published Works 100 Years Ago: A Picture-story of Hong Kong in 1870. Foreword text by John Warner; translated by Wucius Wong. Hong Kong: Urban.Council, 1970. Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. ed. London: Verso, 1991. Appadurai, &un. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 1996. Baldick, Chris. The Social Mission of English Criticism, 1848-1932. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983. Best, Geoffrey. Mid- Victorian Britain, 1851-1 8 75. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971. Bhattacharyya, Gargi. "Cultural Education in Britain: from the Newbolt Report to the National Curriculum." Oxford Literary Review. 13 (1-2), 1991. Oxford: Oxford Literary Review. 4-1 9. Blunden, Edmund. "The Cultural Role of the University." Commonwealth Literature: Unity and Diversity in a Common Culture: Extracts from the Proceedings of a Conference held at Bodington Hall, Leeds, 9-12 September 1964, under the Auspices of the University of Leeds. Ed. John Press. London: Heinemann, 1965. --- a "Sir Charles Eliot." University of Hong Kong: the First Fgty Years. Ed. Brian J3-son. Hang Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1962. 38-44. ---. Lee Lan Flies the Dragon Kite. English version. Collins: London; Haarlem printed, 1962. Blunt, Reginald. Letter to the Editor. English. Vol. 1, No. 3,274. 1936. ~raine-Hartnell,Arthur Christopher. The Lady of the Moon: Translation of the Pali Poem "Chanda-Kala ". Bangkok : Chulalankarana University, 1936. Bridge, Ann. Report of the Annual Dinner of the English Association. Held at Holborn Restaurant, London, on 18th June, 1937. English. Magazine of the English Association. Vol. 1, No. 5, 1937. Brutt-Griffler, Janina. World English: A Study of its Development. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters, 2002. Calendar of Imperial University of Shanxi (Western Department), China. 8th Issue. [Taiyiian: s. n.] , 19 10. Canagarajah, A. S. "Interrogating the 'Native Speaker Fallacy': Non-Linguistic Roots, Non-Pedagogical Results." Non-Native Educators in English Language Teaching. Ed. George Braine. Mahwah, N. 5.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999. Cannadine, David. Ornamentalism: How the British Saw their Empire. London: Allen Lane, 2001. Chan, Lau Kit Ching and Peter Cunich, eds. An Impossible Dream: Hong Kong Universityfrom Foundation to Re-establishment, 191 0-1 950. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Cheung, Oswald and Clifford Matthews, eds. Dispersal and Renewal: Hong Kong University During the War Years. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1998. Ching, May Bo. "The Boxer Indemnity and the Establishment of Chinese Department in Hong Kong University 1920s-1930s." International Conference on Hong Kong and Modern China, 3rd - 5th December, 1997, University of Hong Kong. VO~.2. Sponsored by the University of Hong Kong Foundation for Educational Development and Research [et al.] . Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, 1997. Couling, Samuel. Encyclopaedia Sinica. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 19 17. Co&, Franklin E. Institutionalising English Literature: the Culture and Politics of Literary Study, 1 750-1900. Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1992. ---. The Scottish Connection: the Rise of English Literary Study in Early America. Syracuse, N-Y.: Syracuse University Press, 200 1. Crawford, Robert. Devolving English Literature. Revised ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2000. Cunich, Peter. "Godliness and Good Learning: the British Missionary Societies and HKU." An Impossible Dream: Hong Kong University )-om Foundation to Re- Establishment, 1910-1950. Eds. Chan Lau Kit Ching and Peter Cunich. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. 39-64. Dixon, John. Growth through English. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1969. Docker, John. "The Neocolonial Assumption in University Teachng of English." South Paczfzc Images. Ed. Chris Tiffin. Brisbane: South Pacific Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies, 1978. Edinburgh University Journal. Vol. 24. 1969-70. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh. Educational Directory of China. Shanghai: Educational Directory of China Publishing Co., 1916. Endacott, George. "The Beginnings." University of Hong Kong: the First 50 Years, 1911-1 961. Ed. Brian Harrison. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1962. Engler, Balz and Renate Haas, eds. European English Studies: Contributions Towards the History ofa Discipline. Leicester: Published for The European Society for the Study of English by The English Association, 2000. English Association. English. Association Magazine. ---. English Association Bulletin. ---.List of Members. 1920 [etc.]. London. 111. Miscellaneous Institutions, Societies, and other Bodies. English Association. London, 1920, etc. .-.. Offzcers of the Association. 1920 [etc.]. London. 111. Miscellaneous Institutions, Societies, and other Bodies. English Association. London, 1920, etc. ---. Hong Kong Branch. Lectures delivered before the Hong Kong Branch of the English Association, 1929-1934. Enright, D. J. '"The Daffodil Transplanted." Memoirs of a Mendicant ProfeSsor. London: Cox and Wyrnan Ltd., 1969,209-217. ~vans,Colin. English People. Buckingham: Open University Press, 1993. Fowler, J. H. English Literature in Secondary Schools. London: English Association. Leaflet No. 5. 1908. Gardner, W. H. The Teaching of English through Literature: Report on a Study-Tour of Schools and Universities in England, France, and Germany. Department of Education, Arts and Science, National Council for Social Research, 1953. Gascoyne-Cecil, William. Changing China. London: Nisbet, 191 1. Gikandi, Simon. Maps of Englishness: Writing Identity in the Culture of Colonialism. New York: Columbia University Press, 1996. Giles, Judy and Tim Middleton. Writing Englishness: 1900- 1950: An Introductory Sourcebook on National Identity. Ed. Judy Giles and Tim Middleton. London: Routledge, 1995. Graff, Gerald. Professing Literature: An Institutional History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989. Growing with Hong Kong: the University and its Graduates- the First 90 years. Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, 2002. Guedalla, Philip. Report of the Annual Dinner of the English Association. Held at Holborn Restaurant, London, on 18" June, 1937. English. Vol. 1, No. 5, 1937. Hall, Peter Arthur. 150 Years of Cricket in Hong Kong. Sussex, England: Book Guild Ltd., 1999. Harrison, Brian, ed. University of Hong Kong: the First 50 Years, 1911-1961. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1962a. ---."The Years of Growth." University of Hong Kong: the First 50 Years, 1911-1 961. Ed. Brian Harrison. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1962b. 45- 57. ---."The Faculty of Arts." University of Hong Kong: the First 50 Years, 1911-1 961. Ed. Brian Harrison. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1962c. 127- 134. Hayhoe, Ruth. China 's Universities 1895-1995: A Century of Cultural Conflict. Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, HKU, 1999. Herford, C. H. The Bearing of English Studies upon the National Life. The English Association. Leaflet No. 16. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1910. Hiramatsu, Mikio. "Reminiscence." Edmund Blunden: A Tribute from Japan. Eds. Masao Hirai and Peter Milward. Tokyo: Kenkyusha, 1974. Hoggart, Richard. The Uses of Literacy. Middlesex, England: Pelican Books, 1957. Hong Kong Examination and Assessment Authority. Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination: Regulations and Syllabus. Hong Kong: the Authority, 2004. Hang Kong FYho's who: 1958-60. An AImanac of Personalities and Their History. Ed. Rola hzzatto. Hong Kong: Windsor House, 1959. Hutton, Christopher M. "Race and Language: Ties of 'Blood And Speech', Fictive Identity and Empire in the Writings of Henry Maine and Edward Freeman." Interventions. Vol. 2(1) London: Routledge, 2000. 53-72. ---. Lecture notes on "Language and Nationalism". The Politics of English, Master of Arts course in English Studies. English Department. University of Hong Kong. 16th September, 2002. Inge, William Ralph. "Modernism in Literature." Presidential Address. London: English Association, 1937. Inglis, Fred. The Englishness ofEnglish Teaching. London: Longmans, 1969. Jones, A Gray. "American Literature in British Colleges and school^.'^ English Speaking World Incorporating the Landmark. XX 8. (August, 1938): 394-396. London: English Speaking Union. Kerr, Douglas. Introduction. A Hong Kong House: Poems, 1951-1961. By Edrnund Blunden. A reprint with contributions fiom Mimi Chan, Douglas Kerr and John Preston. Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 2001. King, Noel. "'The Teacher Must Exist Before the Pupil': The Newbolt Report on the Teaching of English in England, 1921 ." Literature and National Cultures. Ed. Brian Edwards. Deakin University: Centre for Studies in Literary Education, 1988. Lauwerys, J. A. Foreword. Towards World Understanding: Bias in History Textbooks and Teaching. By Stanley A. Smith. London: Library Association, 1962. 9- 10. Leathes, Stanley Mordaunt. The Teaching of English at the Universities. London: English Association, 1913. Leavis, F. R. Education & the University: A Sketch for an English School. New ed. London: Chatto & Windus, 1948. ---. English Literature in our Time & the University. London: Chatto & Windus, 1969. Lerer, Seth. Error and the Academic SeF the Scholarly Imagination, Medieval to Modern. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. Leung, Man Wah Bentley. "Remembrances of Times Past: the University and Chungking." Dispersal and Renewal: Hong Kong Universig during the War Years. Eds. Clifford Matthews and Oswald Cheung. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1998. 105- 108. Liu, Shu Yong. ed. Yi zhi yi ye zong guan qing. <<-;f;fi-g,@,m~@>> (Recollections of alumni) Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1993. Lo, Hsiang Lin. Hong Kong and Western Cultures. Tokyo: Centre for East Asian Cultural Studies, 1963. Mallon, Thomas. Edmund Blunden. Boston, Massachusetts: Twayne, 1983. Marshall, E. C. and E. Schaap. A Manual of English for Foreigfl Students. London: Hachette, 1947. Mellor, Bernard. The University of Hong Kong: An Informal History. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1980. ---. Lugard in Hong Kong: Empires, Education and a Governor at Work, 1907-1912. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1992. Miller, Thomas P. The Formation of College English: Rhetoric and Belles Lettres in the British Cultural Provinces. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997. Milner, Andrew. Literature, Culture and Society. London: UCL Press, 1996. Moran, Joe. Interdisciplinarity. London: Routledge, 2002. Newbolt, Henry John. The Idea of an English Association. London: English Association, 1928. Newbolt, Margaret, ed. The Later Life and Letters of Sir Henry Newbolt. London: Faber and Faber, 1942. Newton, John Millard. "English Literature at the University: A Historical Enquiry." Diss. Supervisor: F. R. Leavis. PhD Diss. Cantab, 1963. Niblett, William Roy. Christian Education in a Secular Society. London: Oxford University Press, 1960. Oxford College Record. University College, Oxford. Vol. IV, No. 2, 1962. Palmer, D. J. The Rise of English Studies: An Account of the Study of English Language and Literature from its Origins to the Making of the Oxford English School. London: Published for the University of Hull by the Oxford University Press, 1965. Perham, Margery. Lugard: The Years of Authority, 1898-1945. London: Collins, 1960. Phillipson, Robert. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992- Potter, Stephen. The Muse in Chains: A Study in Education. London: Jonathan Cape, 1937. Rajan, Rajeswari Sunder, ed. The Lie of the Land: English Literary Studies in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992. Reed, Walter L. "Canonisation and Its Discontents: Lessons from the Bible." English as a Discipline; or, is this a Plot in this Play? Ed. James C. Raymond. London: University of Alabama Press, 1996. Report of the Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies. Presented by the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the Parliament. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. June, 1945. Richard, Timothy. Forty-five Years in China: Reminiscences. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1916. Rothkopf, Carol Z., and Barry Webb, eds. More than a Brother: Correspondence between Edmund Blunden and Hector Buck, 19 1 7-1967. London: Sexton Press, 1996. Said, Edward. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978. Smith, Stanley A. Towards World Understanding: Bias in History Textbooks and Teaching. London: Library Association, 1962. SOAS Information. Issue No. 457. Week beginning 7" April, 2003. School of Oriental and Afiican Studies. University of London. Soothill, William Edward. A Mission in China. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, 1907. Spiering, Menno. "The Englishness of English Literature and Literary History: The Lectures of Sir Arthur Quiller- Couch." Yearbook of European Studies. 12. 1999. 127-144. Stibbe, Matthew. German Anglophobia and the Great War, 1914-1918. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. The Teaching of Classics. Incorporated Association of Assistant Masters in Secondary Schools. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1954. Tong, Q.S. "The Bathos of a Universalism: I. A. Richards and His Basic English." Tokens of Exchange. Ed. Lydia H. Liu. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1999. Viswanathan, Gauri. Mash of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India. London: Faber and Faber, 1990. Webb, Barry. Edmund Blunden: A Biography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. Wo's Woin the Far East. 1906-1907. Hong Kong: China Mail Publishers. Widdowson, H. G. "The Ownership of English." TESOL-Quarterly. Vol. 28 (2). 67- 68. Summer, 1994. Alexandria: TESOL. 377-389. --- . "Comment: Authenticity and Autonomy in ELT." ELT Journal. Vol. 50 (1). January, 1996. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Widdowson, Peter, ed. "Introduction: The Crisis in English Studies." Re-reading English. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1982. Williams, Raymond. Culture and Society, 1780-1950. London: Chatto & Windus, 1959. Wiltshire, Trea. Old Hong Kong. Vol. 2. 1901-1945. Hong Kong: Form Asia Books Ltd., 1995. Yates, J. A. The Problems of English Teaching in Indian Schools. Leaflet No. 1, South Indian Branch of the English Association. October, 1911. Young, Robert. Colonial Desire: Hybridity in Theory, Culture, and Race. London: Routledge, 1995. ---.Postcolonialism: a Historical Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell, 200 1. Websites English Association. List of the Past Presidents. 2nd August, 2002.